Skip to content

Best Practices

When contributing to this project, aim to follow the best practices outlined below to ensure your changes are standardised and fit in with the existing format.

File Names

Ensure new files are named lowercase only, so that the menu items are sorted alphabetically in a predictable way.

All links that navigate a user away from the SOPs site should have {target=new} appended - this opens the link in a new tab.

[Internal Link](enroute.md)

[External Link](https://vatpac.org){target=new}

Important

All external links should use the https protocol.

Sector Names

Where available, controller positions should be referred to by their abbreviation (e.g. SAN for Sydney Approach North). Where multiple positions are discussed in close proximity, consider bolding the sector names. The abbreviations.md file contains a list of all sector abbreivations and creates a tooltip with their full name for clarification.

Altitudes

Describe any altitudes in the format of Axxx (for altitudes below 10,000ft) or Fxxx (for flight levels above 10,000ft) and wrap them in backticks.

Example

Departures should climb to `A010`
Departures should climb to A010

Radio Calls & Coordination

It is recommended to include an example highlighting any unique or lesser-known radio calls which apply to a procedure, and to indicate any coordination requirements associated with a position.

Radio Calls

Radio calls should take the following format: 

**STATION NAME**: "Message"

Example

VOZ1545: "VOZ1545, request descent"
HUO: "VOZ1545, descend to FL130"

Coordination

Coordination examples should take the following format: 

**INITIATING SECTOR** -> **RECEIVING SECTOR**: "Message"

The sector names (including the arrow) should be wrapped in a <span> and given a class of either hotline or coldline to denote which coordination method should be used. 

<span class="coldline">**INITIATING SECTOR** -> **RECEIVING SECTOR**</span>: "Message"

As a general rule of thumb, hotlines should be used in all circumstances, except for:
- Taxi coordination from Class D Tower to TCU/ENR position
- Inbound coordination from TCU/ENR to Class D Tower
- Oceanic coordination
- Airways clearance requests from ACD to overlying TCU/ENR position (e.g. Sydney Delivery requesting clearance to YSBK on behalf of an aircraft)

Example

NW TCU -> WOL: "Taxi, PSDN18 for YMCO via URBOB, Requesting F130"
WOL -> NW TCU: "PSDN18, F130"
NW TCU -> WOL: "F130, PSDN18"

WOL -> NW TCU: "via CB, SKJ, with your concurrence, will be assigned descent to A090"
NW TCU -> WOL: "SKJ, concur A090"