2023 "core" courses scheduled

We have scheduled what we call the core courses of 2023. These are:

• PANS-OPS Basic
• Advanced PBN
• Heli PinS
• PANS-OPS Recurrent/Refresher
• Flight Validation Pilot

Note:

1. The Basic Course of the spring semester now starts later. Starting date is March 1, followed by the 2-week video lecture phase. Then the one-day initiation webinar will be held, before we meet in class some weeks later. Like this the 2 basic courses are more equally distributed over the year.

Also Note: Do not ask us for onsite or additional date private Basic courses. We will not do that as it is logistically too complicated. 

2. The Heli Pins is now a full week as the material in PANS-OPS is more extensive and needs more time.

Please check back later for other courses like ARINC 424, CRM Master Class, AIS/MAP, Regulating IFP, IFP for Managers. We can only schedule them later for coordination reasons.

Flight procedure designer job opening at skyguide

Do not ask us about the job please. We are just distributing the information. Thanks.

https://jobs.skyguide.ch/job/Wangen-b_-Düb_-&or-Geneva/829227801/

Working with the ICAO Instrument Flight Procedures Panel?

The ICAO Headquarters has a job announcement of high importance. Amongst other interesting duties in the OPS Section of the Air Navigation Bureau, this position includes the Secretariat of the Instrument Flight Procedures Panel IFPP. This means, as the Panel Secretary you have an important role for the functioning and the efficiency of this high level expert group. You will closely collaberate with myself as the Chairperson of the IFPP as well as the Rapporteurs of the individual sub-working groups. You will ensure the coordination between the IFPP and other Panels/Secretariats. During the meetings you will sit with me for coordination and you will produce the meeting report.

As said, this is just one aspect of the job, in the light of the IFPP. Everything else you will find here.

And no, I have nothing to say about who they select, so please do not write to us about it. Thanks.

News on the ANI Harder Challenge

Unfortunately nobody could compete on the challenge for almost a year now. I updated the page for it and also opened a new route from Unterseen. I did a first benchmark time on it bit it will be trashed once students come here and do their runs. It is impossible to be really fast right now as there is still loads of snow in the upper quarter of the path. We can expect very similar times on the Unterseen route as we have on the classic one. I have also added some pictures of the rewarding view once you have faced the torture and get up there. I intend to open a third route as well, keep you posted. Check out the page https://ani.aero/harder-challenge/

The ANI SARS-CoV-2 update Nr. 2

Dear All,

After the latest developments, here is an info on the ANI training events for the next couple of months.

1. The refresher course last takes place as planned. We had 8 participants in the Classroom and 8 in the Livestream. 3 had to move to the later date. We will repeat the course November 9-13.

2. The Regulating IFP course starting today was moved to November 16-20. People would only have attended the Livestream and I would have been alone in the Training Center. Not a problem actually but this one was obvious to be moved.

3. The SBAS Course in Canberra/Australia was moved to October 12-16.

4. Heli PinS April 14-17 is postponed. Dates will be communicated when we see the situation relax.

5. The PANS-OPS basic part 1 in autumn is moved back by a week. Now starting October 12 (previously October 5). Part 2 remains as it was before.

6. Understanding the Cockpit side in Frankfurt is moved to the December course (7-11).

7. AIS/MAP in Belgrade/Serbia April 20-May 1 is postponed. Dates will be communicated when we see the situation relax.

8. The ARINC 424 with Jim Terpstra scheduled for May 25-29 is postponed.  Dates will be communicated when we see the situation relax.

9. SBAS live Webinar. April 20-24, daily 8.00 to 12.00 CEST. I will be streaming from the ANI Training Center, participants join via Zoom from the office, home, holidays, wherever. Tuition fee CHF 900 per participant.

10. PANS-OPS basic part 2, May 4-22. We need to see the developments. The possibilities will be discussed with the participants.

11. Advanced PBN June 8-19. Livestream or Class if situation allows travelling again.

The remaining scheduled courses are not affected for the time being.

The ANI SARS-CoV-2 update

Alright folks, of course the whole mayhem has affected us as well. Here is a summary of the impact.

1. The refresher course starting on Monday takes place as planned. We will use the usual pre-cautions, no shake-hands, wash hands regularly etc. If somebody catches a cold, stay in the hotel and join the live stream. Speaking of which, we will stream the course live for those who want to or have to stay at home. We will repeat the course November 9-13.

2. The Regulating IFP course starting March 16 was moved to November 16-20. People would only have attended the live stream and I would have been alone in the Training Center.

3. The SBAS Course in Canberra/Australia will be moved to autumn as well. We sahll communicate the dates next week.

4. The PANS-OPS basic part 1 in autums is moved back by a week. Now starting October 12 (previously October 5). Part 2 remains as it was before.

5. Understanding the Cockpit side ind Frankfurt is going ahead at this moment. We can offer the registered participants to move their registration to the December course (7-11) until March 18. Cancellations after that date rquire us to charge EUR 660 cancellation fee, as we will have to pay for the Simulator sessions. Unfortunately, Lufthansa Aviation Training does not accept it as Force Majeure, when Companies issue travel bans. Only when it happens at government level or when flight do not take place.

6. AIS/MAP in Belgrade/Serbia April 20-May 1 is going ahead for the moment.

Any other course is not not affected at this point in time. Please also note that there is an SBAS live webinar April 20-24, daily 8.00 to 12.00 CEST.

Flight Procedure Designer Position in Norway

The Instrument Flight Procedure team in Avinor is currently seeking a procedure designer to fill a temporary vacancy from June 1st 2020 until December 31st 2021. Avinor has a highly experienced international design team with employees hailing from Norway, Hungary, Spain and Poland. The Norwegian aerodrome network offers unique challenges with airports located amid highly precipitous terrain. Applicants are expected to have PBN design experience, preferably APV and and RNP AR.

The vacancy is officially posted here:

For additional information, contact Morten Giswold (morten.giswold@avinor.no) or Jakub Sar (jakub.sar@avinor.no)

Improving the online courses

Students in any online course can now join the respective live sessions in the classrom course if they wish. Thanks to the state-of-the-art technology in the new ANI Training Center, we can allow the online folks to join whenever they wish.
As a second step we will also offer specific courses that are "live online". Typically we will use this for very small modules that can be delivered in a day or two.
But first we want to see how joining the class remotely works when the PANS-OPS basic starts next week.

New Course - Advanced FVP

We have launched an advanced FVP course that will be held in the LH SIM Center in Frankfurt.

It can also be used as recurrent but has a different scope than the also offered FVP recurrent course. While the recurrent FVP focuses on an update on procedure design criteria and the exchange between acive FVPs, the Advanced has the following concept:

Before the course the participants receive an IFP package for studying and evaluation/preparation. The package will be a procedure that is a bit more complex then in the FVP basic practical (for example an RNP AR).

On day 1, the class will perform the pre-FV together based on the individual preparation of each participant and prepare the FV rundown. Day 2 is the Simulator evaluation day including the recording and day 3 is the post-flight analysis day and production of the validation report.

The details can be downloaded from the site: http://www.ani.aero/courses/advanced-recurrent-flight/

SBAS Course in Canberra March 16-20, 2020

Dear All,

This is to announce an SBAS PANS-OPS procedure design course in Canberra/Australia March 16-20, 2020. The Instructor of this course is Robert Bukovics. We have about 8 places on top of the already registered students. Tuition fee is CHF 2000 per student. The rudimentry rundown is shown below. If time permits, Robert will also cover an overview of GBAS procedure design.

Registrations can be made by email directly to training(at)ani.aero.

Setting the stage	SBAS function principle and existing SBAS systems	Differential GPS, existing SBAS systems in the world certified SoL and what they can be used for.
Criteria	SBAS APV-I	Design criteria for a procedure to LPV minimum based on APV-I performance
Criteria	FAS Data Block	Encoding of a FAS Data Block
Mastery Test	APV-I procedure	Design an SBAS APV-I procedure manually in a given sample scenario
Criteria	SBAS Non-precision approach	Design Criteria for a procedure to LP minimum
Mastery Test	SBAS Non-precision approach	Design an SBAS to LP minimum manually in a given sample scenario
Criteria	SBAS Precision approach	Design criteria for a procedure to Cat. I minimum
Mastery Test	SBAS Precision approach	Design an SBAS Cat I procedure manually in a given sample scenario

Refresher/Recurrent activities 2020

Dear Flight Procedure Design Community,

We have two events covering Recurrent/Refresher needs for 2020 at this time.

1. Recurrent/Refresher course at the ANI Training Center in Interlaken in March

5-day course to cover the essentials from AMDT 7 (refresher), AMDT 8 (recurrent) and give you an outlook to what will be coming in AMDT 9.

2. Recurrent Workshop at the ASAP premises in Pezinok in April

2.5-day Workshop to make sure you understand the material in AMDT 8. Depending on progress and time, refresh the AMDT 7 essentials and provide outlook to AMDT 9.

Details, exact dates, tuition fees and registration as always on the ANI website.

Check the new IFPDAVA Website

Dear IFPDAVA Members (and not-yet members),

We have updated the website www.ifpdava.org to respond to the decision at the 2019 General Assembly of the Association, where it was decided to establish a Member only Area with individual password establishment. This involved a transfer to a new host, which is now completed. If you already are a registered Member, you still have to re-register on the new website in order to receive your password and to get access to the Member area.
New potential Members can also register, the approval of the membership will be done by the Executive Board. It is usually quite quick. Please also note that some Members have not received an invoice for the 2019 fee yet. We apologize for the inconvenience but we are still having some issues with the banking. We want to provide some way to pay by credit card in order to avoid transaction fees. Thanks for the patience.

End of the Discussion Forum on the ANI website

Dear All,

The ANI website discussion forum was eventually used as an exchange platform between experts in the international community. It was always a project that was meant to be "perpetual", meaning it is not a platform where I answer questions but where the community answers questions. It usually worked well, thanks for any contribution. Recently, we noticed a significant increase in SpamBots trying to register, which was not the case for a long time. Also for some reason the code sitting on the server was corrupted and the admin control panel is no longer accessible. After giving the issue a bit of thought I decided to stop the service. With the establishment of IFPDAVA we have a means of international exchange on a face by face basis at the IFP Conference every year. I think that beats any forum. If a forum is still desired we will first let IFPDAVA decide and secondly host it on the IFPDAVA website. It will not be possible to transfer the old database to a new forum due to the corrected admin control panel. Thanks for understanding.

Refresher/Recurrent course - Hong Kong

Dates: September 30 - October 4, 2019
Location: Hong Kong International Aviation Academy
Tuition Fee: CHF 1800 per participant

We will be holding the above course covering PANS-OPS Amendments 7 and 8 and also the proposed Amendment 9 as communicated by State Letter. The course cannot be registered from the ANI website, please write us an email if you want to participate.

IFP QA Process Course in Tallinn/Estonia

We will provide a full IFP QA process course at the EANS premises in Tallinn. See the info about the course below. If you are interested in joining, please indicate so on training@ani.aero.
The dates are September 16 to 20, 2019, starting Monday midday, ending Friday midday.

Course duration:

4 working days, starting Monday midday, ending Friday midday.

Tuition fees:

CHF 1800 per participant

Course description:

This course deals with the more and more stringent requirements for QA in the development of Instrument Flight Procedures. It explains the QA process as set forth in ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5 explaining all the required steps in the process. Furthermore the course provides an exemplary IFP design report, how it is created and what it should contain to ensure that all parties involved in the QA process have a complete and understandable document. Finally the course also points out what regulators should be checking when an IFP must be approved.

Topics covered:

Topic	Reference
Procedure Designer Qualifications and Training requirements	PANS-OPS vol. II QA Chapter
State Regulation of Procedure Design Service Providers	PANS-OPS vol. II QA Chapter
The IFP Process	PANS-OPS vol. II QA Chapter
The QA Process	ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5
Documentation of a Flight Procedure	various real-world practices ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5
Ground validation/Crosscheck	ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5
Coordination with Flight Validation Pilots	ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5
Cost issues, pre-production FMS Navigation Database etc.	ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5
Submitting a complete documentation to the Regulator	ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5
Regulator tasks/verification/approval	ICAO doc. 9906 vol. 5

Terminal Objectives:

• understand the QA process for IFP Design
• identify the interfaces with stakeholders in the different stages of the process
• establishing and documenting an agreed conceptual design
• documenting the IFP, createing a skeleton IFP report template
• documenting independent review, create a skeleton GV report template
• documenting periodic review, creating a skeleton PR report template

Target Audience:

- Flight Procedure Designers

- Regulators overseeing Flight Procedure Design Service Providers

Instructor:

Romano Germann, one of the most experienced flight procedure designers in Europe with records designing procedures in Switzerland for skyguide and for ANI Services PinS procedures in Switzerland, procedures at Amsterdam Airport, VSS assessments in Taiwan, as well as coaching procedure design students in practical aspects.

Bye Stadthaus - it is time to move on

Exactly 4 years ago ANI started the cooperation with René Schudel and the Stadthaus.  In the meantime we logged 72 instruction weeks there, several dinners and lunches and even held a full shebang ICAO IFPP meeting there. With the end of the spring Semester end of June this year, this successful cooperation comes to an end. Not that we had any problems there, the opposite is the case. We had brilliant 4 years. But it is time to move on. ANI soon moves to the new and own premises right next to Interlaken West, where we will start operations in August. It will be a state of the art training location with an infrastructure that will push the learning curve. Also we overhaul the training concept and will take it to the next level. Come and see.

Harder Challenge - Standings after spring term 2019

We have a couple of new competitors with outstanding times, showing that ANI Students are not only very clever but also very fit. The chance to make the top 20 ranking board with a time over an hour are shrinking to minimal right now :-)
Leader of the season 2019 is Haiyun Huang with 47'18" so far. But we only just started...
http://www.ani.aero/ani-harder-challenge.html

New ANI courses in the Fall Semester

I am currently writing the concept of two new courses that we will schedule in the Fall Semester.
The first one is "Regulating Flight Procedure Design", a one week course aimed at Regulators, helping them to perform their duties according to the State Responsibilities set forth in Annex 11 and all the consequences.
The second one is "PANS-OPS and IFP Design understanding for Managers". This is a course I long rated as unnecessary as I feared that it could be abused as a short cut for a full PANS-OPS IFP Design Training. In the mean time I think this will not be the case and in my opinion it is vital that Team Leaders, Section Chiefs and whatever they are called today have a rudimentary understanding of what is happening in their teams.
Watch out here for further information very soon. It is also highly likely that we will provide another advanced PBN course in the Fall Semester. Stay tuned.

IFP Conference Agenda published

The IFP Conference/3 takes place in Dublin at the Headquarters of the Irish Aviation Authority June 11-13, 2019. Note that the session on June 13 is dedicated to the General Assembly of the newly founded International Flight Procedure Design and Validation Association IFPDAVA (www.ifpdava.org, this is also where you can find the ToR of the association).
The event is jountly organised by the ANI and IFPDAVA. The program can be doenloaded from
the ANI website, where you can also register.

IFPDAVA Members benefit from a cheaper fee. Non-members can sign-up with the registration.
Members are entitled to send requests for the agenda or the General Assembly until April 30 please.
We look forward to seeing you in Dublin!

A job ad that is important for us - read on

The Federal Office of Civil Aviation in Switzerland announces the vacancy of a position that is quite important for ANI or maybe moreso for the subsidiary ANI Services. Because we will have to deal with this very person a lot. Please find the link to the job ad hereafter. The ad is available in German, French and Italian, three of the four official languages of Switzerland. If you do not master two of the three languages plus English, please do not even consider sending your application. If you fulfill the language requirements you are applying for a regulator job in Flight Procedure Design Oversight in an interesting environment with your office either in Bern or Zürich.