Searches

 

Introduction

FSIMS provides five different ways to search for documents. Each of the search strategies is discussed in detail below, including step-by-step instructions to guide you through the use of each method. The six searches available are:

  • Quick Search
  • Advanced Search
  • RGL & FSIMS Search
  • Word Variants
  • Fuzzy Search
  • Area of Interest Search
  • Library By Subject Search
  • Index Search

Quick Search

A Quick Search finds all active documents that contain the word or phrase entered in the text entry field. Quick Search is available on all FSIMS pages.

Quick Search is fast and easy to use. Simply enter a search word or phrase in the Quick Search text entry field and then click the Go button. You do not need any special characters (quotation marks, etc.) when entering a phrase. A list of all active documents matching your entry is displayed in the FSIMS viewer. Note that the Quick Search result is not limited by your User Preferences.

The Quick Search text entry field accepts the wildcard characters " ? " and " * ". Click below to see examples of the use of wildcard characters.

Step by Step

How to do a Quick Search

  1. Click the Quick Search text field from any FSIMS page.
  2. Enter a search word or phrase (no quotation marks required) in the text entry field. Use wildcards if desired.
  3. Click the Go button. FSIMS displays the Search Results page.
  4. Click below to see an explanation of Search Results.

 

Advanced Search

Advanced Search gives you the capability to refine a search in several important ways. Refining your search will limit the number of documents returned by your query. Some of the refinements you can make include:

  • Select Active or Inactive documents
  • Search By Text or By Title
  • Use the Boolean operators and, or, and not when doing a text search
  • Search for exact matches or all matches including synonyms, word variants, fuzzy search, and wildcards
  • Restrict the search results to User Preferences
  • Sort results by Type or by Title
  • Restrict active document search results to specific Areas of Interest
  • Restrict active document search results to specific Subjects
  • Restrict the search results to specific Publication Types
  • Search by Office of Ownership
  • Search by Point of Contact
  • Search by before or after an Effective Date
  • Search by before or after an Inactive Date

Either/or refinements are made by simply clicking radio buttons or choosing from drop down pick menus.

An Advanced Search retrieves documents based on the contents of all the text entry fields, associated Boolean operators, selections in the Areas of Interest and Publication Type sections and User Preferences.

Wildcards can be used in any of the Advanced Search text entry fields.

Step by Step

How to do an Advanced Search

  1. Click the FSIMS Advanced Search link located in the top right quadrant of any FSIMS page.
  2. Select the By Text or the By Title radio button.
  3. Enter a search word or phrase (no quotation marks required) in the main text entry field.
  4. By Text searches only: if desired, choose a Boolean operator (and, or, not) from the first pick list and enter text in the adjacent text field. This step can be repeated in the second and third pick lists.
  5. Click the Yes checkbox next to Use Synonyms to de-select synonyms from the search results list.
  6. Click the Yes checkbox next to Use Word Variants to include results with different suffixes.
  7. Click the Yes checkbox next to Use Fuzzy Search to include results with similar spellings.
  8. Click the Yes checkbox next to Apply Preferences to restrict results to Job Category & Specialties.
  9. For active documents, select one or more Areas of Interest. The default value is 'All' areas of interest.
  10. For active documents, select one or more Subjects. The default value is 'All' Subjects.
  11. If desired, select one or more Publication Types. The default value is 'All' Publication Types.
  12. If desired, restrict results by document owner, point of contact or Effective/Expiration dates using the pick lists in the Search Fields section.
  13. Click the Search Now button. FSIMS displays the Search Results page.
  14. Click below to see an explanation of Search Results.

RGL & FSIMS Search

RGL & FSIMS Search gives you the capability to search across two databases simultaneously.  This search will return results found in FSIMS as well as the Regulatory and Guidance Library.  Because of the large amount of records contained within both these resources, a maximum of 500 will be returned.  The results will be sorted by relevance, a calculated number, based in part on the number of occurrences and positions of the search term and how closely the search term matches.

RGL & FSIMS Search gives you the capability to limit your search to specific Publication Types. Refining your search will limit the number of documents returned by your query. Some of the Publication Types you can select include:

  • 8900.1
  • Advisory Circulars
  • Advisory Directives
  • Alerts
  • CARs, CAMS & Aero-Bulletins
  • NPRMs
  • Notices
  • Orders
  • Policy
  • Federal Aviation Regulations

 Step by Step

How to do a RGL & FSIMS Search

  1. Click the RGL & FSIMS Search link located in the upper right quadrant of any FSIMS page.
  2. Select the By Text or the By Title radio button.
  3. Enter a search word or phrase (no quotation marks required) in the main text entry field.
  4. By Text searches only: if desired, choose a Boolean operator (and, or, not) from the first pick list and enter text in the adjacent text field. This step can be repeated in the second and third pick lists.
  5. Select one or more Publication Types.
  6. Click the Search Now button. FSIMS displays the Search Results page.
  7. Click below to see an explanation of Search Results.

Word Variants

This option finds words with the base word plus certain suffixes. For example, a search for "fly" will also find "flying" and “flyer." It will not find the variation "flown," or “flight” however, because the base word has changed, or "flyed" because the suffix is not acceptable with that word.

Example of a Word Variant Search

If you want documents with both test and tests, just enter test and check that box. This will also find other variants like testing and tester.

Fuzzy Search

A Fuzzy Search is a type of search that looks for approximate matches to the word you entered.  This allows you to search for words when you are uncertain of the correct spelling. The fuzzy search uses variations on a method commonly called "soundex", which looks for words that sound approximately like the word you entered. One example is searching for "rotocraft" will return documents containing "rotorcraft".

Example of a Fuzzy Search

If you do a search for the word “dice” with the Fuzzy Search option not selected, you will not get any results.  If you do the same search with the Fuzzy Search option selected, you will get a number of results because the search is assuming a misspelling and will return all documents that contain either the word “deice” or “ice”.

Area of Interest Search

An Area of Interest search lets you search the E-Book according to its structure. The Areas of Interest navigation link is found in the left-hand panel of all FSIMS pages. Once you click that link, the various Areas of Interest will display underneath it. Click on any of the Areas of Interest and FSIMS displays a page showing an expanded view of that subject area along with its related Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts.

The Areas of Interest available are:

  • General
  • Air Operator, Air Agency Certification
  • General Technical Administration
  • Aircraft Equipment & Authorization
  • Airman Certification " Surveillance
  • Investigation
  • General Technical Functions
  • Aircraft, Airport & Security
  • Risk Management
  • AFS Programs
  • International Aviation
  • AFS Designees
  • Compliance & Enforcement

Step by Step

How to do an Area of Interest Search

  1. Click on the Areas of Interest navigation link in the left-hand panel.
  2. Click on the Area of Interest you which to search within
  3. Review the subject and CFR Part breakout.
  4. Click one of the items on the breakout list.
  5. Click a document from the list and that document will be displayed.

Library by Subject Search

The Library by Subject search capability allows you to search the E-Book by subject area rather than using key words or phrases. The list of subjects is found at the top of the FSIMS Home page. The subjects available are:

  • Aircraft
  • Airmen
  • Air Operator
  • Air Agency
  • General

Click on any of the subjects and FSIMS displays a list of all relevant E-Book documents sorted by Area of Interest, volume, chapter, and section. A drop-down filter is available that will restrict the result to a particular CFR Part.

Step by Step

How to do a Library by Subject Search

  1. Click on a Library by Subject link at the top of the home page. FSIMS displays a list of all Areas of Interest that match that subject.
  2. If desired, refine the results by making a selection from the drop-down menu found on the right-hand side of the Subject line.
  3. Click the + sign to the left of any Area of Interest to display the documents in that category.
  4. Click the document of your choice to view it.

Index Search

The Index search provides an alphabetical listing of the contents of the E-Book. The first page of the listing shows all of the entries that begin with the letter 'A'. Other pages of the listing can be displayed by selecting the appropriate letter from the alphabet displayed above the list. Simply click a title to view a document on the list.

Step by Step

How to do an Index Search

  1. Click the Index link at the bottom of the AREAS OF INTEREST section of the left-hand panel. FSIMS displays the Index search page.
  2. Select the first letter of the desired section from the Index header.
  3. Locate the document you are seeking.
  4. Click a title to view the document.

Wildcards

Wildcard Characters can be used in both FSIMS Quick Searches and Advanced Searches. FSIMS uses two wildcard characters. They are:

  • '?' - representing a single character.
  • '*' - representing a string of characters.

The '*' character is particularly useful when used at the end of a word. It serves as a root expander and allows you to retrieve all variations on the root term.

Examples of Wildcard Use

The search word 'De-ice?' returns any document containing De-ice followed by any other single character such as, De-iced, De-icer, etc.

The search word 'De-ic* returns any document containing De-ic followed by other character or characters such as, De-ice, De-icing De-iced, etc. When used at the end of a search word, the '*' provides a more inclusive search.

Search by Volume, Chapter, and/or Section

You can search for a particular e-book volume, chapter and/or section by entering that information into the quick search or advanced search text box. To find a specific document, use the word(s) volume, chapter, and/or section in the search. Vol cannot be used for volume; ch or chap cannot be used for chapter; sec or sect cannot be used for section. Enter the words in the order specified, and do not separate the references by a comma. Examples of data entered into a search text field and the search results:

  • volume 2 - brings up all documents in volume 2
  • volume 2 chapter 3 - brings up all documents in volume 2 chapter 3
  • volume 2 chapter 3 section 1 - brings up the volume 2 chapter 3 section 1 document
  • chapter 4 - brings up all documents in any volume that are in a chapter 4
  • section 2 - brings up all documents in any volume and chapter that are in section 2
  • volume 2, chapter 3 - brings up all documents identified EITHER by volume 2 OR by chapter 3. Separating the words volume and chapter by a comma results in an OR search on these fields
  • chapter 3 volume 2 - nothing will be returned because the words are not in the correct order (the word volume must come before the word chapter).

Boolean Operators

FSIMS Advanced Search provides an easy to use Boolean search capability. The available Boolean operators are:

  • And
  • Or
  • Not

The And operator returns documents containing the original search word or phrase and the word or phrase contained in the And text entry field. For example, a search of 'Deicing' in the main text entry field and 'equipment' in an And Boolean text entry field returns all documents containing both words.

The Or operator returns all documents containing:

  • the original word or phrase.
  • the word or phrase in the Or text entry field.
  • both the original word or phrase and the word or phrase in the Or text entry field.

For example, a search with 'deicing' in the main text entry field and 'equipment' in the text entry field next to an Or operator returns all documents containing either deicing or equipment or both.

The Not operator returns all documents that match the other search words or phrases in your query but do not contain the word or phrase in the Not text entry field.

For example, a search with 'delay' in the main text entry field and 'weather' in the text entry field next to a Not operator returns all documents containing delay but not weather.