Introduction
Search for airports
In this topic, you learn how to search for a specific airport to view and verify information weather, NOTAM, runway, surface tracking and other information about that airport.
We estimate that this will take 4 minutes to complete.
Detailed explanation
Why Search for Airports?
We search for airports in N-Tracking to view information associated with a specific airport. This can be useful in a number of different scenarios - for example, if a flight needs to divert to an alternate airport, you have all the information you need in the control center about that airport. For each airport, you can see the following information:
- Current (within 5 minutes) weather reports including TAFs and METARs
- Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs)
- A list of possible runways and their characteristics
- Taxi time (between ramp and runway) information
- Surface tracking maps
With the airport CDM option activated, you can access your preferred airports in a list called "My airports".
You can search by airport name, ICAO or IATA codes. Do not use special characters such as asterisks in your search parameters.
Let's get started!
First, you need to search for an airport.
Click the Airport tab.
Click the Search Airport input field.
Enter either the ICAO or IATA code to generate a list of possible airports.
For this example, use an ICAO code.
N-Tracking begins searching as soon as you begin typing -- the more you type in, the more quickly the airport is retrieved.
If the airport you want to review already displays in the list, you can click its name to access the information directly.
Enter kmsp into the Search Airport field.
Searching is not case sensitive; you can type kmsp or KMSP.
Click the KMSP/MSP list item.
Any of the terms in the airport description retrieve the airport. Had you searched for "Minneapolis", "St Paul" or "Chamberlan", N-Tracking would present this option.
With an airport selected, you have lots of information at your fingertips -- on different tabs.
Let's navigate through these tabs so you can familiarize yourself with the information available in N-Tracking, beginning with the WEATHER tab.
The header, which displays on all tabs, displays the airport name and codes (ICAO and 1ATA) and provides basic geographic, elevation and time zone information.
The latitude and longitude coordinates are linked to the Map page.
The WEATHER tab provides the latest meteorological information:
- TAF: a Terminal Aerodrome Forecast is a weather forecast report from transmitting stations located locally to the airport. Reports have validity durations of 9 hours, 24 hours or 30 hours. 9 hour TAFs are issued every three hours whereas a 24 hour TAF or 30 hour TAF are given every 6 hours.
- METAR: a Meteorological Airport Report is a weather report given once an hour or every half-hour by airports or weather observation stations.
Meteorological information is not automatically refreshed.Click Refresh to ensure that the data displayed is current.
Click the NOTAM tab.
NOTAM data is not automatically refreshed. Click the Refresh button to ensure that data displayed is the latest information available for the airport.
Click the RUNWAYS tab.
A NOTAM is a notice written by an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential events that could affect the safety of the flight.
Consult the RUNWAYS tab to view general runway specifications (dimensions, paved or grass, etc.) for the selected airport.
The tab also displays the last landing or take off from each runway. (Not all airports support this feature.)
When "last on runway" information displays, you can also click the flight call sign to display flight information.
Click the TAXI TIME tab.
The TAXI TIME tab displays for those customers who have implemented the airport CDM option.
The TAXI TIME tab displays an average based on ACARS movement messages. Consequently, this information is updated only for those flights that N-Tracking is receiving ACARS messages for:
- Statistics
- Average taxi time in and out
- Estimated in block time (EIBT)
Click the CAPACITY tab.
You may experience a slight delay while the capacity information loads.
Click the MAP tab.
If your N-Tracking subscription includes it, the MAP tab provides surface tracking functionality.
For more details on this functionality, consult the Surface Tracking topic.
On any tab, you can click in the Search field in the upper right corner to search for a different airport to displays its information.
Click the Search Airport input field.
Let's check the JFK airport in New York.
Enter kjfk into the Search Airport field.
Click KJFK/JFK - John F Kennedy International Airport.
N-Tracking provides the same level of information for all airports in your subscription.
Another way to start a search for a different airport is to display your "My airports" list again on the Airport tab.
Click the Airport tab.
On the Search Airport page, you can repeat the steps you just learned to view airport details for any airport included in your subscription.
