Aeronautical Information Manual
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The Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) is the Federal Aviation Administration's official guide to basic flight information and ATC procedures.
This manual contains the fundamentals required in order to fly in the United States National Airspace System. It also contains items of interest to pilots concerning health and medical facts, factors affecting flight safety, a pilot/controller glossary of terms used in the ATC System, and information on safety, accident, and hazard reporting. The main body of the AIM contains ten chapters, as follows:
- Navigation Aids
- Aeronautical Lighting and Other Airport Visual Aids
- Airspace
- Air Traffic Control
- Air Traffic Procedures
- Emergency Procedures
- Safety of Flight
- Medical Facts for Pilots
- Aeronautical Charts and Related Publications
- Helicopter Operations
The AIM is not regulatory in nature, although parts of it re-state and amplify Federal Aviation Regulations. However, failure to follow procedures set out in the AIM could be used in enforcement action, as such failures could substantiate a charge of a careless or reckless attitude.
The AIM's text and images are produced by the FAA, and are available in electronic form. Several commercial enterprises sell typeset books containing the AIM, usually in combination with those chapters of the Federal regulations that are particularly important to pilots. The books are usually called "FAR/AIM".
An international version called the Aeronautical Information Publication contains parallel information, as well as specific information on the international airports for use by the international community.
