Aviation Events

Summary: What counts as an aviation event, where the events come from, the scheduled shows from the RAF’s calendar, and how to look at one event on its own.

The Events section of the Layers panel shows aviation events on the map with a list alongside: air displays, flypasts (including the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s venue-by-venue routes and Red Arrows transits), parachute displays, balloon festivals and royal or VIP flights. Use the pills to narrow the list to All, Today, Tomorrow or the next 7 Days.

Where they come from

Most events are NOTAMs, the notices published through NATS, sorted by what the NOTAM is about. The map reads the notice’s own subject code first (an air display, an exercise, a temporary restricted area for a display) and then its wording, so an “AIR DISPLAYS” notice, a “FLYING DISPLAY” or a flypast is found whether or not it uses the usual words. Notices that only mention a show in passing, such as a taxiway closed for the airshow or a trigger notice announcing an AIP change, are not shown as events.

The second source is the RAF’s own published calendar for the Red Arrows, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the Typhoon Display Team. A show on that calendar appears weeks before its NOTAM exists, with a calendar icon and an italic title such as Red Arrows: IWM Duxford Flying Finale; its popup says it is scheduled, from the RAF’s published dates, and links to the event’s website. When the display NOTAM for that place and day is published, the NOTAM becomes the event and carries the team as a tag (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight scheduled here). Only shows in the UK, from today onwards, are shown.

Military activity chips

Alongside the events, four chips show routine military flying announced by NOTAM, each with its own list and area drawing on the map: Royal/VIP, Exercises (named exercises such as Cobra Warrior and the many “EXER.” notices for helicopters and high-energy manoeuvres), Fast Jet (fighter control training areas, drawn one polygon per area) and AAR NOTAMs (air-to-air refuelling, with the refuelling area drawn). These are activity rather than events, so they do not raise event push alerts.

Looking at one event

Click an event, on the map or in a list, and every other event comes off the map so its route, waypoints and areas stand alone; the lists dim the rest and a note under the pills offers show all. Closing the popup, choosing another event, switching a layer off or clicking show all brings everything back.

The popup

The popup gives the title, the NOTAM number, the date and the end, the daily times the notice gives, the heights, the route for a flypast with local times at each venue, and the full notice text under a fold. Routed flypasts that are due now are watched live: when a military aircraft is near a venue the list shows an AIRBORNE NOW badge.