Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886605
Tim Dawson wrote:Your very large horizontal radius is why you’re seeing so much junk.

The obstacle notam is low, obviously, but it’s a cylinder that you end up clipping because your route “corridor” ends up being 20nm wide and 2000ft deep with your settings and you’ve got a descent near enough to the notam that you catch it.

Yes, ok. Denham is only 11 miles from White Waltham so that could explain the Denham ones as well as the Ascot and Slough ones.

Ok, one supplementary question if I may.

When SD connects to the internet, does it download only the NOTAMs within the filtering parameters, or does it download more than that, and only list the ones within the parameters?

If it downloads only the ones specified by the filter at planning stage, and I land somewhere that was planned only as a turning point, does that mean that I won't have the ones that were on the ground there, because they were >1000 below my planned route?
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By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1886618
SkyDemon holds all NOTAMs for the FIRs you’ve planned through. So you can change your plans enroute and still get a NOTAM briefing just as valid as the one you used before.
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By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1886986
I've had a good deal of success implementing a change to our NOTAM brief which picks up most of the rubbish and moves it to the end of the briefing under a General Information heading.

I'll publish a beta version of SkyDemon so people can try this soon.
Dave W, patowalker, mick w and 9 others liked this
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By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1888014
Yesterday I posted a beta version of SkyDemon so our testers can try my new categorisation within the NOTAM brief.

Basically, we are now identifying NOTAM that are very generic - covering entire countries or FIRs and coded as “information” - and moving them under a General Information section at the end of the briefing. More specific stuff, and all warnings and aerodrome stuff, resides at the beginning.

In the UK about half to two-thirds of NOTAM now live in this section. Other countries vary but it seems to be working well everywhere.

Try it at our beta page
Dave W, Ibra, ChampChump and 2 others liked this
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1888039
Tim Dawson wrote:Basically, we are now identifying NOTAM that are very generic - covering entire countries or FIRs and coded as “information” - and moving them under a General Information section at the end of the briefing. More specific stuff, and all warnings and aerodrome stuff, resides at the beginning.

Just installed the beta version of SD Plan (3.15.8, PC version, release date Monday 13th Dec).

I think this is a really positive change. I like it a lot. Thank you for adding this, it's a big step in the right direction.

So, you know the way users go, "oh, that's great, but how about....?" :wink:

Well (and I get that this is much more involved than the change you've already made)..... how about adding a user categorisation function, so that for instance:

  • I could create a category, based on a NOTAM subject line containing "Exercises Scheduled".
  • .... and as a consquence, if I enabled that category, it would group the Exercises Scheduled NOTAMS together at the end (either before or after your general info section)

This would, I think, meet my objective of being able to group together (not hide, no siree) all the irrelevant dross, and your objective of not being hauled up before the beak for producing software that hid the crane from the eejit that parked on it.

I realise that this probably puts me in the category of user that provokes the reaction "gawd, he wants WHAT??" amongst the developers (and believe me, I spend my non-flying life on your side of the fence too, so I do understand it), but it would be an awesome change to have.

While I'm on a roll, could I re-ask my question about being able to set the default period for NOTAMS to list as just today, rather than it defaulting to today and tomorrow? Is that possible?
By Lefty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1888044
While I'm on a roll, could I re-ask my question about being able to set the default period for NOTAMS to list as just today, rather than it defaulting to today and tomorrow? Is that possible?

@TopCat

This is already available.
When you create a route, in the top centre of the screen you get a summary - erg "47nm 25 min"
If you touch that box, it opens the "flight Details" box - where the penultimate line says "Take off" and the default is today or tomorrow. If you touch that line, it offers you the choice of "Today, Today or tomorrow, or Specific Date /Time".
If you select the latter - you can set your planned takeoff time - and this will filter the notams to just those applicable during your flight time (with a small safety margin in case you are late).
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1888055
Lefty wrote:While I'm on a roll, could I re-ask my question about being able to set the default period for NOTAMS to list as just today, rather than it defaulting to today and tomorrow? Is that possible?

@TopCat

This is already available.
When you create a route, in the top centre of the screen you get a summary - erg "47nm 25 min"
If you touch that box, it opens the "flight Details" box - where the penultimate line says "Take off" and the default is today or tomorrow. If you touch that line, it offers you the choice of "Today, Today or tomorrow, or Specific Date /Time".
If you select the latter - you can set your planned takeoff time - and this will filter the notams to just those applicable during your flight time (with a small safety margin in case you are late).

Yes, nice. I didn't know about that. It's not quite what I meant though.

It's the default setting that I'd like it to remember. If I do the above, and then create a new route, it hasn't remembered the previous setting - it defaults to today and tomorrow.

What I'm after is something in the NOTAM filtering settings so that I can set the default to just today, and it remembers it for next time.

It's very rare that I need NOTAMs for more than just today.
User avatar
By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1895592
The latest public version of SkyDemon (3.15.8) contains our changes to the NOTAM briefing, which will hopefully make the information more digestible by moving the rubbish to the end, under a General Information heading.

Depending upon the country you're planning in, around half to two-thirds of the NOTAMs get moved under that heading.
Dave W, Rob P, Nick and 1 others liked this
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By James Chan
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895593
Having an app like SkyDemon is great, but its presence also shouldn't give publishers a "license" to publish rubbish NOTAMs either!
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By Rob P
#1895603
Tim Dawson wrote:Depending upon the country you're planning in, around half to two-thirds of the NOTAMs get moved under that heading.


Just did a quick test on a short East Anglian trip and it works precisely as advertised. Two thirds approx in 'General Information' all the relevant stuff above the line.

Great work, as ever.

Rob P
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