About Defence

No1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit (No 1 AIDU)

Our Mission "Deliver all aeronautical information products and services to UK defence through production, partnering or acquisition to support the achievement of Defence objectives."

No1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit (NO1 AIDU) Crest

AIDU Crest

For more than 50 years No1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit (No1 AIDU) has been at the forefront of the Air Cartographic world. Established in 1953 and subsequently relocated to RAF Northolt in 1957, No1 AIDU has recently fallen under the wing of ICG and JAGO, bringing it within the same chain of command as all military agencies, such as DGC and Mil Survey. Thus providing valuable geospatial data to all aspects of HM Armed Forces.

No1. AIDU is charged with the production of all aspects of aeronautical data, including arrival, departure and in-flight data as well as some of the more specialised digital cockpit moving map imagery. With an area of coverage that may be required for training missions, search and rescue sorties, areas in need of humanitarian aid and areas of military operations it is as important as ever that No1 AIDU's aeronautical data "Rises above the rest".

ISO 9001: No1 AIDU works to very strict guide lines covering all aspects of our product from the gathering of aeronautical information, the compilation and production of that information, to the procurement of materials and dissemination of the final product.

To this end the Unit has since 1999 continually held a certificate of excellence from the British Standards Institute (BSi) for compliance with EN ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems. Initially this was to the 1994 standard progressing to the 2000 standard in 2001 and now moving on to the latest 2008 standard.

ED76: In addition to the ISO certification No1 AIDU is also certified to ED76 the European Directive governing all electronically gathered and produced aeronautical data. This data is produced in the required formats for the varied systems used in those aircraft operating with glass cockpits.

This certification allows No1 AIDU to be in a position to move smoothly into our future commitment for the Single European Sky, ensuring that all of the UK Air Arms are capable of carrying out their commitments not only to UK but also European defence and NATO.

The United Kingdom Military Aeronautical Information Publication

The UK Military Aeronautical Information Publication (UK Mil AIP) contains Volumes 1 and 2 The UK Mil AIP is produced every 28 days in accordance with the civilian AIRAC cycle;

Volume 1 - General and En Route: The UK Mil AIP Vol 1 provides general information including definitions, product legends and descriptions of UK NOTAMs and Air Traffic and Meteorological Services. Vol 1 provides detailed guidance to military aircrew on in-flight navigation procedures, visual and instrument flight rules, airspace classification, rules governing instrument approaches and navigation warnings (Danger Areas, Provost Marshall Prohibited, etc).

Volume 2 - UK Aerodromes: The UK Mil AIP Vol 2 provides comprehensive information on UK military airfields including operating times, facilities, airfield surface and obstruction information, communications and runway lighting details, noise abatement and special procedures. In addition, Vol 2 provides graphics for SIDS/STARS, instrument approaches and airfield diagrams and ramp charts.


Flight Information Publications (FLIPs) - En-Route

ERCs provide graphical detail of airway routes, designated airspace, airspace reservations, radio navigation facilities and en-route communication. They contain minimal topographic information but importantly Maximum Elevation Figures are shown. An En Route Chart Legend is available in the Mil APD Vol 1 and as a separate document.

The ERC series provides a consistent and near-global series of approximately 65 charts. The charts depict upper, lower or combined airspace sub-designated 'High', 'Low' and 'High/Low', (H), (L) and (H/L), respectively. Where no upper airspace limit is defined by nations, FL245 is used. When produced for a specific operation or exercise, the chart is further designated 'Special' (Sp). The following types of ERCs are published:

Low Altitude: Aeronautical Information is shown only for the lower airspace. Where no UIR is defined the upper limit of aeronautical information shown on chart will be FL245.

High Altitude: Aeronautical Information is shown only for the upper airspace. Where no UIR is defined the lower limit of the aeronautical information shown on chart will be FL245. High/Low Altitude: These charts show aeronautical information for both upper and lower airspace.

The most common projection for ERCs is the Oblique Mercator and the most common scales are 1:2,000 000 and 1:1,000 000. All ERCs include WGS84 based latitude and longitude graticule with a grid overlay on a small number of charts.ERCs are re-issued on an as required basis in line with the 28-day AIRAC cycle.

Therefore, some ERCs (typically those in Europe) may be updated on average every 2nd cycle whilst others may not be updated for a whole year (13 cycles) or more. Typically, 10 to 15 ERCs will be re-issued on any particular AIRAC cycle. ERCs are available in paper format and also in digital format (ASRP). A sub-set of the charts are available in proprietary digital format for aircraft navigation and mission planning systems

En-Route Supplements (ERS): ERSs provide a comprehensive listing of aeronautical information (including airfield and navigation aid) for specific regions. The ERSs include information on all active UK military airfields and selected foreign civilian and military airfields with hard surface runways of minimum length of 1500m/5000ft that also provide communication facilities. Other airfields can be included on request.

The ERSs are available in paper and digital format. ERSs can be downloaded as 'Adobe PDF' files from the No 1 AIDU web-site on supported networks.ERSs are published for the following areas:
BINA: British Isles and North Atlantic
NOREU: Northern Europe
EUMED: European Mediterranean
SAAAFE: Southern Atlantic, Africa, Asia and Far east

Flight Information Handbook (FIH): The FIH is a digest of information from various larger document sources that is required for in-flight reference. It contains emergency and safety procedures, en-route information and holding procedures as well as codes and conversion tables. The FIH is available in paper and digital format. ERSs can be downloaded as an Adobe .pdf file from the No 1 AIDU web-site.

Flight Information Publications (FLIPs) – Terminal: No 1 AIDU produce Terminal Charts in loose-leaf format for both civil and military airfields; where possible the specification accords with ICAO recommendation.

The range of charts cover:
  • Procedures designed for the arrival and departure of aircraft under Instrument Flight Rules
  • Procedures to enable pilot-interpreted instrument approaches to be made
  • Noise Abatement Procedures
  • Aerodrome and Ramp layout and Taxi procedures

Terminal Charts United Kingdom (Spiral Bound): Two Terminal Chart Booklets are published with procedures for United Kingdom Military and a selection of Civilian Airfields: Terminal Charts Northern Area. Terminal Charts Southern Area.

Terminal Chart Aerodrome Booklets: Terminal Chart Aerodrome Booklets provide all the Terminal Procedure for individual or groups of Airfields.

Fast-Jet Terminal Chart Book: A book for Fast Jets use in UK and Stavanger.

Specification and Legend Book: A book which details the format and symbols used on the joint Terminal Charts. Sections are also included on runway approach lighting systems, aircraft operating minima and PANS-OPS criteria.

Legend Card: This hard-wearing card shows at a glance the symbols used on the joint Terminal Charts and is designed to be used either as a stand-alone reference or incorporated into Terminal Chart hard-covered books / Flight Guides.

Helicopter Landing Sites: Three booklets of helicopter landing sites are published spirally bound, they each contain detailed multi-coloured graphics and associated information for selected sites.

Helicopter Landing Sites UK: This booklet contains details of military and certain civil sites in the UK) including Northern Ireland, helicopter routes in selected control zones and training areas.

Helicopter Landing Sites Hospitals UK: This booklet contains details of military and certain selected civil hospital landing sites (including Northern Ireland) and helicopter routes in selected control zones.

Helicopter Landing Sites and Visual Approach/Departure Charts Europe: This booklet contains military and certain selected civil sites in Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Faroe Is, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Netherlands, with associated Visual Approach / Departure charts.

Minor Aerodromes UK (MAD): This spiral-bound booklet contains detailed multi-coloured graphics and associated information for military, MoD(PE) and civilian customers on selected civil aerodromes and some microlight sites in the United Kingdom that either do not meet the normal minimum criteria for inclusion in other FLIPs, or there is no TAP or Landing chart published.




Contact details

No1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit

Royal Air Force Northolt

West End Road

Ruislip

Middlesex

HA4 6NG

United Kingdom


Fax: +44(0)20 8841 1078
Customer Services Tel: +44(0)20 8833 8209/8587
Fax: +44(0)20 8841 1078
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