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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0773.PDF
7 June 1957 779 ASKED . . . AT the end of Tolcarne Drive, Pinner, Middlesex, stands af^L group of flat white single-storey prefabricated buildings •L A- which look for all the world like Government offices—and, in fact, are. Close by runs the main Marylebone-Sheffield railway line; near at hand is North wood Hills station on the"Met"; and at the gate of the prefab buildings are two neat notices. One says "Inland Revenue" and the other "Ministry of Transportand Civil Aviation." A passing stranger, loitering towards the laburnum and flowering currants which make this suburban drivesweet-scented in springtime, might assume that the difference between these two Government offices was merely one of function,and that each displayed an indifference towards the general public except through recognized channels of inquiry. Such a view (and here one speaks without casting aspersionsupon the Inland Revenue, who are doubtless the soul of kindness in extracting one's schedule A) would certainly not be true ofthe M.T.C.A. office in Tolcarne Drive, which houses the Aero- nautical Information Service; for the A.I.S. is a Governmentdepartment which imbibes and disseminates aeronautical informa- tion from the four corners of the world, and in doing so maintainsan unusually refreshing view of public relations. Their uncomplicated attitude towards aeronautical queriesprobably springs from the fact that their chief and senior officers are ex-R.A.F. pilots and know from experience what the customer—be he airline operator, private pilot, aeronautical writer or anyone else—really wants. These men, with their first-handknowledge of practical flying, have built up an organization which can supply any sort of aeronautical information in theshortest possible time. Thus, if you ask for the state of the airfield at Fort Lamy in French Equatorial Africa, the A.I.S,comes up with its serviceability state almost immediately; or if the Encyclopedia Britarmica compilers wish to check whetherLa Paz in Mexico and Jericho in Jordan are still the highest and lowest airfields in the world, the same well-ordered and up-to-datefiling system supplies an immediate answer. It would be incorrect to give the impression that the whole ofthe A.I.S. is located at Pinner. Its headquarters and information- disseminating organization is there; but it has three area-centres,at Uxbridge* and at Manchester and Prestwick airports; there are A.I.S. aerodrome units at London Airport North and Central,Prestwick and Manchester, all staffed by ex-aircrew briefing offi- cers; and there are "D" units at smaller airfields. In its present form A.I.S. is a young organization, derivingfrom the Convention on International Civil Aviation held at Chicago in 1944. (There had been an organization of similar kindin pre-war years, and at Pinner a fascinating scrapbook contains * This area-centre is moving to London Airport in the near future.The two photographs on this page were taken at the information unit at London Airport. . .- some of its documents, including the log of the R.34's Atlanticcrossing in 1919 and a typical visual-flying briefing on cross- Channel routes for pilots flying from Croydon to the Continentin the 1920s.) Between 1944 and 1953 the idea of an A.I.S. was developedand clarified successively in 1946, 1949, 1951 and 1952; until in 1953, when Annexe 15 to the Convention of International CivilAviation was published, a standard of uniformity was established for the "collection and dissemination of aeronautical informationin the interest of the safety, regularity and efficiency of inter- national air navigation." Each I.C.A.O. contracting State isrequired to provide an A.I.S. for its own territory (on its own or in conjunction with another country), and to be responsible forthe collection, collation, editing and publication of such information in an adequate and accurate manner. There are two kinds of A.I.S. information. That of a permanentcharacter is included in Air Pilot (United Kingdom) published by the Ministry; while information of a temporary natureabout local changes or hazards, which must be known quickly, is disseminated in the form of Notams (Notices to Airmen).An example of each kind should illustrate the difference. The details of the U.K. Airways system included in the Air Pilotis information of a permanent character; a Notam saying that work is in progress on a runway at Stansted is a temporary local THE M.T.C.A. AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION SERVICE: ITS WORK FOR CIVIL AVIATION . . .AND ANSWERED change; and one about a captive balloon at Reading informs pilotsof a temporary local hazard. The A.I.S. is part of the Control and Navigation Directorateof the M.T.C.A., and it is sub-divided into A.I.S.1 (the U.K. section) and A.I.S.2, which covers overseas areas. A.I.S.1 is itselfsub-divided into la and lb, the latter dealing with Notams Class I, information for which is received and repromulgated byteleprinters when addressees cannot be reached in time by post. Summaries of effective Class I Notarns are published monthly,and a daily summary of air navigational warnings within the U.K. is sent to all A.I.S. units. These duties are covered bybriefing officers who work on a 24-hour-watch system and also by filter assistants by day. Like that famous little theatre nearPiccadilly Circus, A.I.S.lb "never closes." A.I.S.la is responsible for the Air Pilot—a complete compendiumof civil aeronautical information, kept up to date by monthly supplements—which includes all information on U.K. aerodromes,telecommunication facilities, navigational hazards, procedures and regulations (the area of this infonnation including the ChannelIslands and the Isle of Man). It also publishes U.K. Notams, Class II, which are issued weekly. The Air Pilot is intended "tomeet the needs of those engaged in flying operations"; information for it is received from the policy branches of the M.T.C.A., andthis is collated, edited and prepared for the printers by A.I.S.la. The total number of copies of the Air Pilot and Class II Notamsdespatched for home and overseas use is 3,300. Constant liaison with broadcasting, television, electricity and local authorities on thenotification of obstructions is another part of A.I.S.la's work. The branch is also responsible for publishing details of royal flightslike that made in April by the Queen and Prince Philip to France; and a permanent wall display at Pinner—and similarly at A.I.S.
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