Aviation Regulations (via Deepsky API)
Deepsky (deepskyai.com) publishes an open, no-auth search API over a curated corpus of aviation regulations and manuals (ICAO, FAA 14 CFR, EASA, CASA) plus supporting advisory material. It also exposes standard agent-discovery endpoints (llms.txt, OpenAPI, plugin manifest, skills registry).
Use this skill whenever an aviation regulatory or operational-doc question comes up, instead of guessing from training data. The corpus is authoritative and multi-jurisdictional; training data often isn't.
Core workflow
- Formulate a natural-language query. Aviation-specific phrasing works best. Include the jurisdiction (FAA, EASA, CASA, ICAO) and the operation type (Part 91, 121, 135, EDTO, IFR, etc.) when known.
- Call
POST /api/v1/search (no auth). Prefer scripts/deepsky_search.py — it handles the POST, parses the response, and prints citations.
- Cite from
heading_path + metadata. Every match includes a breadcrumb (e.g. 14 CFR 135.223) and Country. Always cite these back to the user. Do not paraphrase without the citation.
- Broaden or re-query if needed. If the top hits are off-jurisdiction or off-topic, rephrase (add the specific CFR part, MOS, or ICAO annex), or bump
matchCount (max 20).
Primary endpoint: Search
POST https://www.deepskyai.com/api/v1/search
Content-Type: application/json
{"query": "<natural-language question>", "matchCount": 8}
query (string, required): natural-language search querymatchCount (int, optional, 1–20, default 8): number of matches to return
Response shape:
{
"query": "...",
"count": 8,
"source": "hybrid_search_rpc",
"matches": [
{
"content": "<excerpt from the document>",
"heading_path": "Part 135 > Subpart D > § 135.223 IFR: Alternate airport requirements. > 14 CFR 135.223",
"metadata": {
"Heading Level 1": "...",
"Heading Level 6": "§ 135.223 IFR: Alternate airport requirements.",
"Page Numbers": [71, 72],
"Country": "US"
},
"document_id": null,
"score": null
}
]
}
Notes:
source is hybrid_search_rpc (lexical + vector).score and document_id may be null — don't rely on them for ranking or deep-linking; trust the order returned.Country values seen: US, AU, australia, plus EU/ICAO values. Filter client-side by checking metadata.Country or the Heading Level 1 string.
Alias endpoints (same behavior)
POST /api/search — public alias of /api/v1/searchGET /api/v1 — versioned root (endpoint map)GET /api — discovery root
Skills registry
GET https://www.deepskyai.com/api/v1/skills
Returns Deepsky's published agent skill packages (Aviation Document Search, NOTAM Analysis, Regulatory Navigation, LLM-Ready Aviation Data). Use when the user asks "what can Deepsky do for agents" or wants to download skill packages.
Discovery / machine-readable metadata
https://www.deepskyai.com/llms.txt — concise agent manifest (llms.txt open standard)https://www.deepskyai.com/llms-full.txt — full LLM-optimised documentationhttps://www.deepskyai.com/.well-known/openapi.json — OpenAPI schemahttps://www.deepskyai.com/.well-known/ai-plugin.json — plugin manifesthttps://www.deepskyai.com/.well-known/api-catalog — machine-readable API catalog
Fetch llms.txt first if unsure which endpoint to hit — it's small and lists everything.
Using the helper script
scripts/deepsky_search.py is a zero-dependency Python CLI (uses only the stdlib). Prefer it over hand-rolled curl because it prints citations in a form easy to quote back to the user.
python3 scripts/deepsky_search.py "minimum fuel requirements for IFR flight" --count 5
python3 scripts/deepsky_search.py "EDTO critical fuel scenarios" --count 10 --json
python3 scripts/deepsky_search.py "pilot rest EASA" --country EU
Flags:
--count N (1–20, default 8)--json — emit raw JSON instead of the formatted view--country CODE — client-side filter on metadata.Country (substring, case-insensitive)
Query patterns
For detailed guidance on crafting queries and interpreting jurisdictions, see references/query-tips.md. Load it when the first search returns off-target results or when the user asks a broad/ambiguous regulatory question.
Quick rules:
- Name the jurisdiction (FAA, EASA, CASA, ICAO) and the Part/Annex number if known.
- Use regulatory language, not plain English: "alternate airport requirements" > "where do I divert".
- If the user asks a factual regulatory question, run a search before answering — do not rely on training data for aviation rules.
Citing results to the user
Always present returned rules with:
- The jurisdiction (
metadata.Country or the parent heading).
- The specific rule reference (e.g.
14 CFR 135.223, MOS 121 §7.06, AC 91-15 §5.3).
- A short excerpt from
content.
- The URL
https://www.deepskyai.com as the source of the search (the API does not currently return per-document deep-links).
Never paraphrase a rule without its citation. Aviation regulations are safety-critical and users need the reference to verify.
