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Re: Subscription to NASD CD-ROM (was: embedded ...)




> On 11 Feb, Bob_Deep wrote:

> > I thought that the Jeppeson approach plates, though different looking
> > than the NOS ones, where functionally equivalent.

> I think the key thing to remember is there are three sources of
> information, Jeppesen, FAA, and NOS.  Jeppesen and NOS produce
> approach plates; Jeppesen and the FAA produce digital data.  It's
> quite a leap of faith to assume that NOS plates are produced from FAA
> digital data without correction.

> A question I have for people who've looked at the FAA data, is there
> even enough information in there to produce a complete set of approach
> plates?  Or even one approach plate?  I expect that terrain and
> obstruction information is missing but what about all the rest of the
> stuff?  
I have not been able to identify it all yet, I don't think ALL of the
info is there.
I do think most of it is, and could be very hand for secondary, and 
emergency purposes.

I system that could instantly find the Tower, ATIS and Localizer
frequency of the nearest airport meeting a previously defined
criteria, and load them into the memory of your new NAV/COM 
or display them so you can quickly tune them, get oriented,
call for help and save the 2 minutes you will take to dig your 
chart out could make all the difference. Granted, you would still 
need to dig that chart out, but you have a 2 minute head start.
Those 2 minutes could make all the difference.

Maybe your'e 100 miles from nowhere, and can't get center on
the expected frequency.
With this data it would be easy to find every communication outlet
within 100 miles, along with the frequencies.

There is obstruction info in the database, how far the protected area
extends, and at what angles, I don't know right off, but it is included
for each end of each runway.

I WAS going to try and explain my point, this is getting verbose.
Maybe a few clips of the data descriptions will help.

With a functioning GPS or LORAN, or with some extra processing to 
give VOR/DME info, if you can't hit a runway with this info, you
are REALLY screwed.

This has been truncated to what I thought was relative to the issue at 
hand, The vast majority of the fields have been removed.

  PHYSICAL RUNWAY LENGTH (NEAREST FOOT) (EX. 3500)  
  PHYSICAL RUNWAY WIDTH (NEAREST FOOT)  (EX. 100)  
  RUNWAY SURFACE TYPE AND CONDITION  
    CONC    - PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE  
<Big List Snipped>
  -----------------------------------------------  
          BASE END INFORMATION  
  -----------------------------------------------  

  BASE END IDENTIFIER     (EX. FOR RUNWAY 18/36 THE BASE END IS 18)  
  RUNWAY END TRUE ALIGNMENT TO THE NEAREST DEGREE. (EX. Rwy 18, COULD BE 184)  
  INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM (ILS) TYPE  
    ILS       - INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM  
    LOCALIZER - LOCALIZER  
<Big List Snipped>
  -----------------------------------------------  
          BASE END GEOGRAPHIC DATA  
  -----------------------------------------------  

  LATITUDE OF PHYSICAL RUNWAY END Deg Min Sec (sometimes within a few inches)
  LONGITUDE OF PHYSICAL RUNWAY END 
  ELEVATION (FEET MSL) AT PHYSICAL RUNWAY END    
  THRESHOLD CROSSING HEIGHT (FEET AGL)  
  VISUAL GLIDE PATH ANGLE (HUNDREDTHS OF DEGREES)    
  LATITUDE  AT DISPLACED THRESHOLD 
  LONGITUDE AT DISPLACED THRESHOLD 
  ELEVATION AT DISPLACED THRESHOLD (FEET AGL)  
  DISPLACED THRESHOLD - LENGTH IN FEET FROM RUNWAY END  (EX. 120 OR NONE)  
  LATITUDE  AT TOUCHDOWN ZONE 
  LONGITUDE AT TOUCHDOWN ZONE 
  ELEVATION AT TOUCHDOWN ZONE (FEET AGL) (EX. 1200  187.5)  

  -----------------------------------------------  
        BASE END LIGHTING DATA  
  -----------------------------------------------  

  VISUAL GLIDE SLOPE INDICATORS  
    S2L   2-BOX SAVASI ON LEFT SIDE OF RUNWAY  
    S2R   2-BOX SAVASI ON RIGHT SIDE OF RUNWAY  
<BIG Big List Snipped>

  APPROACH LIGHT SYSTEM  

  ALSAF - 3,000 FOOT HIGH INTENSITY APPROACH  
          LIGHTING SYSTEM WITH CENTERLINE  
          SEQUENCE FLASHERS.  
<Big List Snipped>

  RUNWAY END IDENTIFIER LIGHTS (REIL) AVAILABILITY  
  RUNWAY CENTERLINE LIGHTS AVAILABILITY  
  RUNWAY END TOUCHDOWN LIGHTS AVAILABILITY  

  -----------------------------------------------  
        BASE END OBJECT DATA  
  -----------------------------------------------  

  CONTROLLING OBJECT DESCRIPTION (EX. TREES,BLDG,PLINE,FENCE,NONE)  
  CONTROLLING OBJECT MARKED/LIGHTED  
    M  - MARKED  
    L  - LIGHTED  
    ML - MARKED AND LIGHTED  
    NONE  
  FAA FAR PART 77 (OBJECTS AFFECTING NAVIGABLE AIRSPACE)  
  RUNWAY CATEGORY  
    A(V)  - UTILITY RUNWAY WITH A VISUAL APPROACH  
    B(V)  - OTHER THAN UTILITY RUNWAY WITH A VISUAL  
            APPROACH  
    A(NP) - UTILITY RUNWAY WITH A NONPRECISION APPROACH  
    C     - OTHER THAN UTILITY RUNWAY WITH A  
            NONPRECISION APPROACH HAVING VISIBILITY  
            MINIMUMS GREATER THAN 3/4 MILE  
    PIR   - PRECISION INSTRUMENT RUNWAY  

  CONTROLLING OBJECT CLEARANCE SLOPE  
    VALUE, EXPRESSED AS A RATIO OF N:1, OF THE  
    CLEARANCE THAT IS AVAILABLE TO APPROACHING  
    AIRCRAFT. IF THE CLEARANCE SLOPE IS GREATER THAN  
    50:1,THEN 50 OR 50+ WILL BE ENTERED.  
    (EX.  8,22,50)  
  CONTROLLING OBJECT HEIGHT ABOVE RUNWAY  
    HEIGHT, IN FEET AGL, THE OBJECT IS ABOVE  
    THE PHYSICAL RUNWAY END.  
    (EX. 100)  
  CONTROLLING OBJECT DISTANCE FROM RUNWAY END  
    DISTANCE, IN FEET, FROM THE PHYSICAL RUNWAY END  
    TO THE CONTROLLING OBJECT. THIS IS MEASURED  
    USING THE EXTENDED RUNWAY CENTERLINE TO A POINT  
    ABEAM THE OBJECT.  
    (EX. 800  0  NONE)  
  CONTROLLING OBJECT CENTERLINE OFFSET  
    DISTANCE, IN FEET, THAT THE CONTROLLING OBJECT  
    IS LOCATED AWAY FROM THE EXTENDED RUNWAY CENTERLINE  
    AS MEASURED HORIZONTALLY ON A LINE PERPENDICULAR  
    TO THE EXTENDED RUNWAY CENTERLINE. ALSO, INDICATES  
    THE DIRECTION (LEFT OR RIGHT) TO THE OBJECT  
    FROM THE CENTERLINE AS SEEN BY AN APPROACHING  
    PILOT.  
    (EX. 50R, 75L, NONE)  


  -----------------------------------------------  
          RECIPROCAL END INFORMATION  
  -----------------------------------------------  
All the same info for the other end of the runway.

Additional records for each runway.

  REMARK TEXT  
     FREE FORM TEXT THAT FURTHER DESCRIBES A  
     SPECIFIC INFORMATION ITEM OR MAY BE GENERAL  
     IN NATURE.  

This does not even include the info from the ILS File,
SID & STAR file, NAVAID file or control facility Files.

This post is probably too long already.

The descriptions files are in the ftp site.

> I believe both Jepp and NOS plates are hand drawn.  I suspect
> that Jepp is moving towards an automated system from data but I don't
> think they're there yet (reference the JeppView CDROM being full of
> scanned in approach plates).  I have no idea what NOS is up to.

Me either, and would never suggest not having one or the other handy 
and current, but in other ways this data is a huge superset of what
is drawn on the charts.

Some of this could be very useful or lifesaving at times.
As a secondary source of info, it can't be beat for cost or 
completeness IMHO.

Marc


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