Aimm: Frequently Asked Questions
- How is Aimm different from methods of monitoring? Highly automated with ADSB, and a Risk Management focus ... more details
- What is 'Aimm Movement Monitoring'? An efficent way to monitor movements, manage risk, reports, compliance, and landing fees... more details
- Can Aimm handle Parking Fees, Fuel Purchases and other aircraft charges? Yes, without double handling... fee billing details
- What are the Costs and Benefits? Cost less than most other methods, for more benefits... more details
- How is Aimm able to do this so economically? By extensive use of data analytics and computer pattern matching... more details
- Aimm versions? Does Aimm have different versions to suit different airports? Yes... more details
- How to know if it will suit my Aerodrome? Discuss the challenges and opportunities that your Airport faces with our Aimm staff.... more details
What is 'Aimm Movement Monitoring'?
A complete Airspace Reporting and Movement Management service for Aerodromes, for Landing Fee Billing, and providing the information needed for effective Risk Management, Compliance, Noise Complaints, and Funding applications.
Part of the monthly 'Dashboard' report sent to airport managers, and board members, within 7 days of the end of each month, to allow provide the information on which to make fully informed decisions.
Three Aimm Versions
Aimm has three versions to suit different types of operation, from the smallest private airfield to busy International Airports. We have clients in both these categories and everything inbetween: Towered and Non-Towered; Fixed wing and Heliport; Movements from 2000 / year to well over 100,000 / year; and everything inbetween across Australia and NZ. The Aimm versions are cross-compatible, so it is possible to switch versions up or down with no loss of data as the airport's circumstances change.
1. Aimm-Plus
Aimm-Plus is highly automated, and suits a wide range of airports.
Movements by ADSB equipped aircraft are reported as soon as the flight ends and can be
viewed in real time on the Aimm Movements page. It also records all aircraft voice calls 24 /
7 / 365 with a time and date stamp, then analyses, sorts and archives them
for three years. These can be routinely transcribed by Aimm
(or the airport's own staff) to pick up movements from non-ADSB
equipped aircraft, or only transcribed after an incident, as the
Airport chooses.
A report is sent within one week of the end of each month, showing a management summary of the Key Performance Indicators. An invoice file is sent to the Airport/Councils billing dept, configured to import straight into the Airport/Council's existing billing system with no manual intervention required. This means that invoices are sent out on the Airport's own letterhead which is important... Aimm started out billing and collecting payments on behalf of its airport clients, but experience soon showed that Pilots are much more motivated to pay a Landing Fee directly to the Airport they used, than to a Third Party they suspect is 'clipping the ticket'.
A spreadsheet is also available for any period showing every movement (whether revenue generating or not) for further analysis.
- RISK MANAGEMENT:
With evolving Health & Safety requirements, even small Council owned airfields can no longer just 'Leave it to the Aero Club'. A landowner is required to pro-actively manage risk to be able to show that they are taking 'all practicable steps' to safeguard staff, pilots, maintenance staff, and the public.
If a situation arises that requires more detailed information, Aimm-ADSB client airports can have Aimm's Transcription Operators retrospectively enter the Voice calls for the relevant period, to produce a complete record of all voice calls whether they landed or were just transitting past. This is usually requested for situations like: - Incidents
At many small airfields, a Flying School or Aero Club does a good job of the day-to-day management but, in the event of an incident the land owner does need to be able to show that they were aware of the changing patterns of Air Traffic usage and have been reviewing these to confirm that the facility is being appropriately managed.
If they do not have Airport Management expertise in-house, Aimm senior staff are available to discuss any points that raise concerns. This can take the form of a short discussion at no charge, or a full consultancy with written reports at reasonable industry rates.
Aero Clubs / Local Aircraft Operators can provide AirCRAFT expertise but do not usually have AirPORT Management expertise.
If requested by the aerodrome (and only then), Aimm operators will send copies of the relevant radio calls directly to an Incident Investigation Authority and certify their accuracy and completeness. - Compliance / Planning Approval Information
All 'aerodromes' (any place approved for aircraft operations, including emergency and hospital heliports), is required by the Civil Aviation Authorities to have accurate counts of the type and number of aircraft movements, and report when requested. If the airfield / airport's operating consent has limits, the reports provide evidence of compliance with those. And - Noise Complaints
Most airfields / airports occasional need to be able to show which aircraft did what, when and why. Often a complaint is generated by a Rescue aircraft flying in unusual places or altitudes, or an aircraft that is NOT associated with the airport, and resolving this quickly avoids escalation of the complaint.
The Airport's own staff can listen to the radio Voice calls from the archives for the specific period and resolve most problems themselves. Aimm operators can provide this report if the situation report needs to be from an independent third party. And - Search and Rescue
To be able to quickly playback a group of radio calls to assist S&R, identifying what was said, by whom, and at exactly what time in an emergency. - Management
Most aerodromes want a complete 'snapshot' of all movements (both ADSB and non-adsb) occasionally, often one month a year when they are due to review bulk fees for local aircraft operators. This provides certainty on exactly who is doing what in order to make informed management decisions and negotiate from a position of knowledge. This is available on request at any time.
The Aimm central server monitors the on-site unit remotely to ensure that the system remains operational.
On all systems, ALL Voice radio call recordings are available retrospectively, not just those that resulted in an airport movement. Airport staff can listen to radio calls for any period from three years ago to the last few minutes at the aerodrome, and view the ADSB positions that resulted in a movement.
2. Aimm-Regional
Provides all the services of Aimm-Plus (above), and is designed for Regional / International Airports and those with substantial Landing Fees. Aimm-Regional uses dual recording units, ideally in different buildings on different power phases, to provide full redundancy of movement capture. Either unit is able to provide the data, and the units are monitored daily to confirm that both are in 'operations normal'.
3. Aimm-Mini
Aimm-Mini is a 'no frills' Airfield Movement Monitoring system that provides the minimum information needed for an aerodrome to remain in compliance with the Aviation regulations.... making use of automation to get the monthly cost within the reach of even the smallest airfield. (Tell us your situation, and we will quote a specific monthly cost to suit). It still has the full Pilot Voice call archiving and retrieval to help defend the Landowner and the Personnel against liability claims in event of a serious incident.
--- Pilot Voice calls are recorded and archived for three years, for aircraft transiting past as well as those using the airfield. These are necessary to identify who said what and when, in event of an incident.
--- Voice Calls up to five minutes ago at the airfield, can be remotely played back from any internet connected device without the need to visit the airfield... to respond quickly to Search-and-Rescue emergencies.
--- The 'Dashboard report' is sent monthly, showing a graphical Management Summary of activity. This allows changes in activity to be identified so 'practicable steps' can be taken to maintain Health and Safety. Landing Fees can be billed if required, with the airport's own personnel working from the Fee calculated for the particular aircraft and displayed on-screen.
--- Compliance reports are sent at the specified dates, configured for non-Certificated airports according to the current regulations, with details on how to file with CASA / CAA to maintain compliance. Aimm-Mini is not suitable for 'certificated' airports.
--- ADSB detected movements can be viewed by authorised Club Office holders on the Aimm secure webpage, showing movements for the current month and previous month.
The cost of Aimm-Mini has been kept down by removal of the 'frills', but the underlying Voice recording / archiving / retrieval / security mechanisms are still industrial strength to provide the information to defend the Landowner and its personnel against liability claims in event of a serious incident.
What are the Costs and Benefits?
For all three systems the 'Dashboard' report condenses each month's activities into a concise view of the facts that Airport Management need to know... the 'who, what and when' of activity at the Airport. It is sent within a week of the end of each month to enable up-to-date and effective business decisions. In event of an incident, these reports provide written evidence that the Airfield / Airport land owner has been supervising the operations and has the information to take 'all practicable steps' to ensure the safety of the pilots, maintenance personnel and public. Even for those Airports that choose to report only the ADSB data (thereby eliminating the time and cost of Voice call transcription), all Voice calls are still archived to be fetched in event of an enquiry.
The 'Billing and Movement' report is also sent within a week for Aimm-Plus and Aimm-Regional, with fully priced and addressed invoices for direct import into the Airport's existing billing system, usually with no further data entry. By making use of the Airport's existing billing system rather than duplicating this itself, Aimm is considerably more cost efficient than older methods of collecting landing fees.
For more information Contact us.
- Fixed monthly cost: In most situations: Aimm-Mini, and Aimm-Plus/Aimm-Regional if the voice call transcription is done by the airport's own staff... there is a fixed monthly subscription which is the only cost.
- If the airport prefers, the voice call transcriptions can be carried out by Aimm's Transcription Operators, charged according to the minutes of voice calls. This service is also available to Aimm-Mini clients if they want some voice calls transcribed retrospectively after and incident.
- Extra services such as a mobile data link, or special reports / consultancy are charged on a time and cost basis.
- Transcription of Voice calls. Either Aimm's Transcription Operators, or Transcription Operators employed by the Airport, can download the filtered radio Voice calls from the Aimm Server onto any Windows computer, either at the airport or anywhere with Internet access, play them back and enter the movements. An efficient Transcription module is provided at no-charge if required.
- Aimm does all the rest... Airspace Activity and Movement Reporting, Risk Management reminders, Regulatory Authority reports to remain in compliance. And for Aimm-Plus/Regional, produces a CSV file of priced and addressed invoicing data for import into the Airport's existing billing system so the aircraft operators can be charged landing fees. Aimm has robust system monitoring, data collection and retention methods, however the service is provided solely on the understanding that no liability for loss of landing fees or any other losses arising from loss or corruption of data will be accepted by Aimm.
How is Aimm able to provide these services so cost-effectively?
The Aimm developers have a long history in Data Analytics (extracting the meaning from raw computer data) and analysis of patterns in data. With the power available on 'Cloud' based and Distributed systems, Aimm has the computer itself do much of the work and thus considerably reduce the human input required. By making full use of the latest technology for automation, Aimm is usually able to provide a service to a higher standard and at a lower cost than alternate methods
Major differences of Aimm from other Movement Monitoring Systems and Methods?
Aimm is much more automated than older methods of Monitoring. It makes full use of ADSB to capture most of the movements itself, leaving only the non-ADSB aircraft to be manually transcribed. This is more accurate, immediate, and economical. It provides information to reduce Risk and Liability, handle Complaints quickly before they escalate, and handle Compliance. Collection of Landing Fees is obviously important, but it is not the only task an Airport Manager has to do. The cost of the service is gradually reducing as ADSB is used by more aircraft allowing more automation.
How to know if Aimm will meet my Airfield / Airport's needs?
Contact one of Aimm's senior management to discuss the challenges and opportities that your Airport faces, and how other Airports have used Aimm to handle these. In many cases other Airports have faced the something similar, so we can often advise a solution, and results that were achieved by others.
Aimm supplies self contained unit(s) on a maintained lease that are plugged into the power at the airfield / airport.
Your staff don't have to do anything else. The unit(s) monitor activity 24 / 7 / 365. Aimm staff will liase with IT and Accounting staff to sort out the 'nuts and bolts' of making it fit seamlessly into your existing systems. Aimm can use broadband Internet connecions if available, but normally uses the Mobile Data network for communications, to avoid security and firewall issues, or risk compromising Client security (particularly important for Aimm's Military clients).
Aimm's Services to Airports
Aimm monitors ALL movements and captures better than 99% of relevant Takeoffs, Landings, Touch-and-Goes at most Airports:
- Airside Personnel Tracker: Who is Airside? Where did they go? When?
- Landing Fees: Cost Effective Billing of Fees
- ADSB, Reports, Statistics and full Data for effective management and reporting
- Regulatory Compliance including CASA (Australia) and CAA (NZ) Part 139 Reporting
- Risk Management, Health and Safety, Incident Investigation
- Complaint Resolution and Noise Management
- Funding for Airports, Revenue generation, Grant Applications, Airport Master Plans.