The conference was attended by representatives of the aviation community: pilots, airspace users, airport managers — including those from Lublin and Łódź — handling agents, and aeroclubs.
In 2024, a record number of GA (General Aviation) operations were handled by FIS (Flight Information Service) officers of the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA). Nearly 300,000 flights took place in Polish airspace. The latest version of the IWB (Integrated Web Briefing) — a convenient tool for GA pilots recently introduced by PANSA — is expected to contribute to further growth in these statistics. This tool, along with many other topics important to GA pilots, was discussed during the third General Aviation Conference organized by PANSA and the Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation in Warsaw. The conference was opened by Rafał Marczewski, Deputy President of PANSA for Air Navigation.
One of the main topics discussed at the conference was IWB. This system is used for creating and managing flight plans, planning flight operations, and providing access to both static and dynamic aeronautical data. IWB offers a comprehensive set of functions for flight planning, submission and handling of flight plans, and for viewing aeronautical data in the form of a report that contains essential information for the flight. At the same time, pilots have full insight into the current Airspace Use Plan (AUP).
“The modernization of IWB is not just about giving it a new look and features, but also about introducing new system architecture, which allows us to offer the IWB Mobile application and plan further development of the tool,”
said Paweł Wojciechowski, Head of the Air Operations Planning and Flight Plan Processing Center at PANSA.
Other important topics discussed during the conference included:
- The development of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry, drone operations, coordination and acceptance of drone flight plans in light of recent changes in aviation law that allow PANSA to designate geographical zones;
- Drone operations in airspace shared with General Aviation from the drone pilot’s perspective;
- Training flights at controlled airports, using the airport in Łódź as a case study;
- Strategic-level planning of changes to elements of airspace.
The event was summarized by Izabela Iwaniak-Rybak, Deputy Director for Organizational Affairs at the Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation:
“We are pleased that, together with the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, we were able to create a shared space for discussing GA-related topics. Issues concerning civil air transport are close to our mission and align perfectly with the activities of the Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation. The conference was an excellent opportunity to integrate the aviation community in Poland and to highlight issues related to the safety of air operations.”
