The flight data sector unites:
- Department for aircraft publications
- Information – communication centre (IKC)
Department of aircraft information (at the Jože Pučnik Airport, Ljubljana, Edvard Rusjan Airport, Maribor, Portorož and Cerklje ob Krki Airport).
The department for aircraft publications is obligated to publish the journal of flight data and all data, which has an indirect or direct impact on the safety of flying in the Republic of Slovenia's airspace. This data includes information on Slovenian airports, airspace, radio navigations means, flight maps of Slovenia and airports, special areas, legislation, aviation organisations in Slovenia etc.
The information – communication centre has two primary functions which include:
- publishing Notice To AirMen messages, which contains information about planned, short term changes at airports, air routes and radio navigation means in Slovenian airspace, and are forwarded to users at home and abroad.The European AIS Database is used to process these messages in which NOTAM messages are available from the whole world.
Aircraft Information Services
In the Republic of Slovenia we have implemented a network of these services at all international airports as well as at the military airport Cerklje ob Krki. As a rule, the service are available while the airports are open, outside of this Aircraft Information Service are available 24/7 all year round at the Jože Pučnik Airport, Ljubljana.All departments have 12 civil and 5 military AIS specialists, which need a special licence for their work. Due to the nature of work and security components, which represent the base for their work, the ability and qualification of this staff must be verified every two years.
The purpose of the department is to ensure the user of the airspace safe usage of the airspace so that they accept flight plans from users, they process it and forwards it to the competent controls for flying and forwards the users of airspace all important information regarding the arrangement and restriction of the airspace in Slovenia and abroad.At the same time, with this data it informs users about restrictions in the airspace and the possibilities how to avoid the restrictions or how they should fill out a flight plan, so the flights are affected as little as possible because of the implemented restrictions.
Of course, general aviation pilots are not always obligated to submit a flight plan everyday.If the flight is going to be carried out from the airport in its entirety, which is not controlled and in airspace, which is not under control jurisdiction of our company, then the submission of a flight plan is not obligatory but it is recommended. Upon submitting a flight, the pilot in case of a problem can justifiably anticipate and also during a period of assistance from Slovenia Control, Slovenian Air Navigation Services, Limited. Furthermore, for every flight plan submitted rescue services are ensured if the plane unexpectedly disappears or a great probability would exist that the plane survived the accident.In any case, pilots are obligated to submit a flight plan when they are going to fly into an area and to an airport, which are under air traffic control as this kind of air traffic control is indicated by this arrival into controlled airspace; the air traffic controllers with their instructions ensure safe flying for all planes.This is why defined time schedules are valid when submitting flight plans. A flight plan, which will be implemented under visual meteorological conditions, must be submitted at least one half hour before the planned departure, while flight plans, which will be implemented under the conditions of instrumental flying, must be submitted one hour prior to the intended departure.
Pilots can submit the flight plan in ways: by phone, fax or in person to the aircraft information department. The pilot has an obligation to inform themselves about all significant data, which regard flight safety.This means that AIS specialist offer pilots active assistance in submitting flights plans and for each submitted flight plan they prepare a Pre-flight Information Bulletin, which represents dynamic changes – NOTAM in airspace on the plane's path.Of course after the use of AIS specialists this also includes statistical data, which based on the demands of the pilot and the flight plan flow is taken from the Journal of Flight Data, which is issued by every country.If it is necessary that in all this information in a time window (SLOT) – this is the time when the airplane would have to take off from the airport if they were at the airport, on airline routes or any type of restrictions were implemented at arrivals at the airport, which reduces the flow of air space.ARO can also ensure a suitable dialogue between the Central Unit for managing the airspace flow at Euro control (CFMU-Central Flow Management Unit) and the user of airspace, if the pilot, who had a prescribed time schedule window for an intended flight, wanted to improve the departure time of the flight.
The aircraft information department, with its humbling beginnings in the following years after independence, when there was not even and financial resources nor the adequate technical equipment (we were still working on old teleprinters) and in light of a lack of staff, it has developed into as modern, complex and a contemporary organised environment, where the biggest emphasis is on ensuring the safety of airspace users.
Slovenia Control, Slovenian Air Navigation Services, Limited places a lot of attention of the quality of its services and that is why it acquired the ISO 9001:2000 certificate. Most attention will be placed on ensuring safety in air traffic in the future within the aviation information sector in which the aircraft information department is a part of and of course we are still going to offer quality and user friendly services, which we intend to update in a way so that the users, therefore the pilots, can acquire all information including the submission of the flight plan in one place.
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