Begining the process.
So moving forward with these posts, we come to the actual use case for a spread sheet like Excel. To get started we need two basic things, we need to know what we are going to record and how we would like to view what we have recorded. For these posts I’ve made some arbitary decisions and have invented, Malcolm the Super Spotter.
After some discussions with Malcolm the data he wants is as follows, the Registration, the Manufacturer, the Model, the Manufacturer Serial Number, the Build Year, the ADSB Code, the Owner or Operator and finaly the Aircraft Class. After some discussions with Malcolm, it turns out that the only thing he is interested in is whether he has seen an aircraft or not. This means that there is no need for the collection of a Location or a Date, infact there is no need for anything other than those data points to be recorded.
The Data Points
The data points chosen should all be readilly available, we can take each one and determine how we will identify the data and how the spread sheet should store it.
N-Number
In most of the world this would be called Registration, but in the USA it is most commonly called the N-Number. It might also be commonly referred to as the Tail Number, suffice to say that any of these terms can be applied and are valid somewhere.
The aircraft’s official registration or tail number assigned by the national aviation authority.
Format: Text (prevents leading zeros or special characters from being altered). Suggested Width: 15–20 characters.
Manufacturer Name
Now this shouldn’t teally meed any explanation, but as is the way of things – there are people who will be literal about these things. As I explained in the previous post, names change due to various reasons. Take Douglas as an example, founded in the late 1920’s. It merged with McDonnell, to become McDonnell Douglas in the 1960’s. In the late 1990’s McDonnell Douglas and Boeing merged, with the Boeing name remaining and McDonnell Doglas ceasing to be.
The name of the company that manufactured the aircraft.
Format: Text. Suggested Width: 25–30 characters.
Model
Although this is the manufacturers assigned designation or name, when it comes to some manufacturers the designation might be different from the name an example would be the North Americam NA-73 more commonly known as the Mustang,
The manufacturer’s model designation for the aircraft.
Format: Text. Suggested Width: 25–35 characters.
Manufacturer Serial Number
The Manufacturers Serial Number, this is also known as the construction number – there can be some confusion around this and I will be posting a seperate article about it in the future. In short we have a serial number, usually assigned in sequential order and the number may actually be a mixture of letters and numbers.
The unique serial number assigned to the aircraft by the manufacturer.
Format: Text (serial numbers may contain letters, leading zeros, or hyphens). Suggested Width: 20–25 characters.
Build Year
The Build Year, the calendar year in which the aircraft was built – typically the year it was completed. If it was started in December 1960 and finished in January 1961, the build year would be 1961.
The year in which the aircraft was manufactured or completed.
Format: Number (0 decimal places) or Custom 0000. Suggested Width: 10 characters. Validation: Whole numbers (e.g. 1900–2100).
ADSB Code
The ADSB code, this a unique six digit hexadecimal number (Base 16). So the valid characters for each position are 0-9 and A-F, in most of the world each country ties these to the airframe.
The aircraft’s unique 24-bit ICAO address (Mode S/ADS-B hexadecimal code).
Format: Text (preserves leading zeros). Suggested Width: 12 characters. Validation (optional): Six hexadecimal characters (0–9, A–F).
Registrant
The owner or operator, could be a Company, an Individual, a Government, an Air Force or a Charity – the list is long.
The name of the person, company, or organisation currently registered as the owner or operator.
Format: Text. Suggested Width: 35–50 characters.
Class
The class of aircraft, this will be quite small and a list should be created and kept to hand for use during creation of the spread sheet.
The general classification of the aircraft, such as Aeroplane, Helicopter, Glider, Balloon, or Rotorcraft.
Format: Text. Suggested Width: 20 characters. Validation (optional): Drop-down list of approved classes.
What to do Next
Well we simply have to build the spread sheet and start capturing data, but before we do that there are a couple of points to consider.
- If you physically see an aircraft, you can only capture what you can read off and write down or input. Typically this is the registration or tail number, if you are close enough. A manufacturer and model, if your identification skills are up to it. The owner or operator, it is usually on comercial aircraft – private aircraft can be more challenging.
- If you have an app like FlightRadar 24 on your phone, you will be able to record the ADSB Code and in some jurisdictions it can be looked up online. But the Build Year and the Manufacturers Serial Number would probably have to be looked up.
- You’ll need a small notebook and a pen if visiting an airfield, also a pair of binoculars to assist reading the registration mark.
Next Post
In the next post I’ll cover Building the Spread Sheet, then we can look at capturing the data and inputting to our new logging tool.