AATMP-23 flight information publication chart requirements

What it is

What AATMP-23 covers

AATMP-23 is a NATO Allied Air Traffic Management Publication. It fixes the minimum information and the format for three chart products: terminal high/low instrument approach charts, standard instrument departure (SID) charts, and aerodrome diagrams/layouts. It does not set a single house style; it lists what every chart must carry and where, and leaves room for national publishing conventions to accommodate the minor differences between member nations' own publishing specifications. This is the current edition, Edition A, Version 2, effective on receipt and superseding Edition A, Version 1.

Who it addresses and how it binds

AATMP-23 is written to whoever produces flight information publications (FLIP) for a NATO nation: national aeronautical or military publishing authorities, and the NATO Led Service Providers that implement it at existing or planned airfields and during deployed operations. It does not address a manufacturer or a certification body.

It binds through STANAG 3970: nations agree to use AATMP-23 by ratifying that STANAG, can ratify with reservations, and then implement the content and format requirement domestically. A company producing charts meets AATMP-23 when a national authority, or a contract with one, requires it, not because the document exists in the abstract.

What every chart must show

Every terminal approach chart needs a communications list, a plan view, a minima block and, where appropriate, an aerodrome sketch, with the authorising agency, the aerodrome name and ICAO indicator, and the procedure type each fixed to a specific corner outside the frame. A fourth label, top left, states which design criteria the underlying procedure was built to: TERPS, MIPS (implemented by AATCP-1), PANS-OPS, or a national criteria set. The aerodrome sketch has to carry runway dimensions, taxiways, arrester gear, lighting, elevations, relevant navigation facilities and the aerodrome beacon. Minima are portrayed to AATCP-1, and coordinates are given in decimal minutes with the geodetic datum identified where known.

SID charts follow the same communications-list, plan-view and labelling rules, with a written departure route description added: every turn, altitude, heading, distance, facility and route to the terminating fix, plus lost-communication procedures where they exist. Aerodrome diagrams carry full runway and taxiway data, navigational facilities, the control tower, and any features a national authority requires, with an accurate position reference system and a stated datum.

What AATMP-23 does not set

AATMP-23 governs only what a chart shows and where. It does not set the flight-safety mathematics behind it, such as obstacle clearance or minima calculation, which come from the design methodology a chart's own corner label names (TERPS, MIPS, PANS-OPS or a national equivalent). It assumes that capability already exists, and, for operational or deployed airfields, that full safety surveys under STANAG 4720 are carried out separately.

How compliance is checked

AATMP-23 describes no certification, accreditation or third-party audit. A nation's ratification and any reservations are recorded in the document itself. Before taking on an airfield or a deployment, a NATO Led Service Provider reviews suitability, currency and ratification status itself, and determines whether existing facilities and procedures already comply - a self-review, not an external one. The document's own safety mitigation is an independent, qualified check of a chart before it is released for operational use.

Standards it references

• AATCP-1Binds
• STANAG 4720Background