PANS-OPS is an

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

acronym which stands for'' Procedures for Air Navigation Services – Aircraft OPerationS''. PANS-OPS are rules for designing

instrument approach In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a lan ...

and departure procedures. Such procedures are used to allow aircraft to land and take off when

instrument meteorological conditions In aviation, instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) are weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to flight instruments, and therefore under instrument flight rules (IFR), as opposed to flying by outside visual ref ...

(IMC) impose

instrument flight rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fl ...

(IFR).

ICAO rules

The Flight Safety section of

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

(ICAO) is responsible for PANS-OPS, which outlines the principles for airspace protection and procedure design to which all ICAO signatory states must adhere. The regulatory material surrounding PANS-OPS may vary from country to country.

Handling of obstacles

Chapter 4 of Annex 14 to the

Convention on International Civil Aviation The Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating international air trav ...

" stablishesa series of obstacle limitation surfaces that define the limits to which objects may project into the airspace" surrounding an aerodrome. PANS-OPS defines "protection surfaces" which are imaginary surfaces in space that guarantee an aircraft a certain minimum obstacle clearance, similar to the purpose of obstacle limitation surfaces (OLS) in Annex 14. These surfaces may be used as a tool for local governments in assessing building development. Where buildings may (under certain circumstances) be permitted to penetrate the OLS, they cannot be permitted to penetrate any PANS-OPS surface, because the purpose of these surfaces is to guarantee that aircraft operating under instruments are free of obstacles on an approach or departure.

Other PANS

* * PANS-ATM: Procedures for Air Navigation Services – Air Traffic Management (ICAO Doc. 4444) * PANS-TRG: Procedures for Air Navigation Services – Training (ICAO Doc. 9868) *PANS-AD (PANS-Aerodrome, ICAO Doc 9981) *PANS-OPS (Aircraft operations, ICAO Doc 8168) *PANS-ABC (Abbreviations and codes, ICAO Doc 8400) *PANS-AIM (Aeronautical information management, ICAO Doc 10066)

History of Pans-Ops software

In 1989 the very first commercially available off the shelf instrument procedure design software (Wavionix) conforming to ICAO document 8168 Pans-Ops was programmed by Ian Whitworth. This software was first demonstrated at Bailbrook College in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, England in 1992 to a procedure design course. Prior to this all procedure design was done with pencil, tracing paper and a calculator. The software was programmed on a

386 __NOTOC__ Year 386 (Roman numerals, CCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Euodius (or, less frequently, year 1139 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...

IBM laptop computer and written in the "LISP" programming language.

PANS-OPS software Nowadays

On the internet, you can find examples of modern PANS operations, as well as the software and language used to program them: 1) FPDAM from IDS AirNav (an ENAV group company), used in more than 80 organizations, among ANSP/CAA, military agencies 2) AirNavCAD (Online software). Used in Europe, Asia, America and Australia to make PANS-OPS. 3) ASAP – PHX – Used by CAAs in 13 countries and 9 ANSPs throughout the world

References

External links

* * * * Air traffic control {{aviation-stub