CI Aql preoutburst and early data Several new observations have been reported around the discovery and preoutburst. There is still a gap of 16.5 d, during which the object brightened by 5 mag. The object keeps the roughly constant magnitude of 9.1 in early May. YYYYMMDD(UT) mag observer 20000404.333 <110pv (W. Liller) 20000410.099 <135 (H. McGee) 20000411.776 <147p (K. Takamizawa) 20000428.260 98pv (W. Liller) 20000428.669 100p (K. Takamizawa) 20000428.673 100p (K. Takamizawa) 20000428.694 98 (M. Yamamoto) 20000428.696 98 (M. Yamamoto) 20000428.706 101 (K. Kanatsu) 20000428.719 99 (K. Kanatsu) 20000429.653 98 (S. Takahashi) 20000429.691 7.93Ic (S. Kiyota) 20000429.694 9.45V (S. Kiyota) 20000429.694 96 (M. Yamamoto) 20000429.694 9.48V (S. Kiyota) 20000429.695 9.43V (S. Kiyota) 20000429.696 98 (M. Yamamoto) 20000429.698 10.55B (S. Kiyota) 20000429.705 8.76Rc (S. Kiyota) 20000429.708 100 (K. Hirosawa) 20000429.719 9.41V (S. Kiyota) 20000429.731 93 (H. Maehara) 20000429.731 9.38V (S. Kiyota) 20000429.772 7.80Ic (S. Kiyota) 20000429.794 91 (H. Maehara) 20000429.985 94 (M. Reszelski) 20000430.003 93 (M. Reszelski) 20000430.044 94 (P. A. Dubovsky) 20000430.062 94 (M. Reszelski) 20000430.081 97 (L. Kral) 20000430.117 96: (G. Poyner) 20000430.360 8.87VR (W. Liller) 20000430.398 8.95VR (W. Liller)