Aeronautical Information and Notice to Airmen Modernization Initiative Is Underway

The FAA says that their Aeronautical Information and Notice to Airmen Modernization initiative is underway and users of the Chart Supplement series will see improvements.

The Chart Supplement is a nine volume civil flight information publication updated every eight weeks by the Air Traffic Organization. It is designed for use with aeronautical charts covering the United States and its territories. Chart Supplements contain airport facility information, airport diagrams and sketches, as well as numerous notices and alerts.

The Alerts and Notices section of the Chart Supplement contains hundreds of various types of entries related to National Airspace System (NAS) operations, procedures and special situations.

FAA lines of business and stakeholders are working to improve the Chart Supplement. These improvements will provide significant benefits to the NAS. The Chart Supplement Revision Plan will eliminate redundant, duplicative and conflicting aeronautical information across the agency.

Aeronautical Information will be published in one location to avoid multiple and unrelated distribution avenues. The scope and purpose of the Chart Supplement will be redefined to contain clear and essential information in support of FAA aeronautical charts.

The current Chart Supplement series notices and alerts pages consists of 20 different sections with more than 150 categories/subcategories of information. The modernization effort will significantly reduce this number to two sections with approximately 25 categories/subcategories of information. Only essential information that supports the scope and purpose of the Chart Supplements will remain.

Benefits of Modernization:

• Improved usability by standardizing Alert and Notice formats.
• Enhancement of aviation safety by ensuring aeronautical information and data synchronization to authoritative sources.
• Increased functionality by linking individual airport entries in the Airport/Facility Directory section to related items in the Special Notices section.
• Improved information currency by identifying Office of Responsibly with contact information.
• Improved support to IFR/VFR charts by redefining Chart Supplement scope and purpose.

The Chart Supplement improvement activities are expected to be successfully completed by the end of 2021 and will ultimately be part of the Aeronautical Information Services Instrument Flight Rules/Visual Flight Rules (IFR/VFR) products. The digital version of the Chart Supplement will have enhanced features giving users a better experience for finding information throughout the supplement.

FMI: www.faa.gov