Just another reminder to check your NOTAMs. Planning a flight for tomorrow. Plan was to start at PTK, pick up pax in Saginaw and then head to BMG. Planned to use HYX in Saginaw. Reading NOTAMs it started out with all the usual nonsense. Burned out lights, towers in the distance. Then read that rwy 9/27 closed. That's the long runway, but no prob, I can use the short one. But wait, the next line said airport closed except for heli. Wait, what??? Yep, airport closed this week. Sure wish we could fix that system - you would think really important ones would jump out at you when filing a flight plan. Just a reminder to scan through all of them, especially the closures.
Check your NOTAMs
- Thread starter SethV
- Start date
This is why I still often call for briefing, even if just an abbreviated one (tell them I have the weather, tell me everything else).
Bill Watson
En-Route
What do you use to get and display NOTAMS? ForeFlight's display gives me a reasonable way to sort thru them and focus on the meaningful ones.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
wilkersk
Pattern Altitude
It jumps out at me:
N3368K
Cleared for Takeoff
I use ForeFlight extensively for checking NOTAMs.
ForeFlight does a nice job of highlighting them. Initially I reviewed them on the 800WXBRIEF web page after I filed. Not too hard to see, but the point of this was to make sure you check. Even for a short easy flight you have done a bunch of times.
exncsurfer
Pattern Altitude
hmmm, on 1800wxbrief, I tried this, and I see there is a tab called 'adverse conditions' then a tab: 'closed/unsafe notams' when you click that it looks like:
That seems like some pretty good sorting to me.
That seems like some pretty good sorting to me.
mkosmo
Pattern Altitude
LM did good with the 1800wxbrief.com site. I usually use it for my briefings, when I need something better laid out than GP will give me.
TRocket
Line Up and Wait
This.
I've had more pertinent notams omitted by FSS briefers than I'd miss in a DUAT briefing.
GMascelli
En-Route
I use Foreflight too, easy read, love the highlights.
Just an FYI I read on briefings from Foreflight.
What is the legality of the weather briefing for FAR Part 91 operations?
There is ongoing confusion many pilots have about weather briefings. There is not, in fact, such a thing as a "legal weather briefing."
The FARs only require that pilots obtain "all available information" (FAR 91.103). ForeFlight delivers weather, NOTAMs, etc. that help a pilot meet this requirement - especially when obtaining a briefing from the file/brief system.
ForeFlight's weather comes from the National Weather Service / NOAA, which is an approved source of FAA weather.
What pilots typically are concerned about when they discuss a "legal weather briefing" is whether or not they will have some proof or record of their briefing. This is important so that in the event of an incident, they can prove they met the requirements under 91.103. We do keep a record of the briefing you get for 120 days, provided you tap the "Brief" button. If you simply look at METARs and TAFs in the app, such as on the Airports page, we don't keep a record of that. ICAO flight plan briefings are kept by Lockheed Martin Flight Services.
Just an FYI I read on briefings from Foreflight.
What is the legality of the weather briefing for FAR Part 91 operations?
There is ongoing confusion many pilots have about weather briefings. There is not, in fact, such a thing as a "legal weather briefing."
The FARs only require that pilots obtain "all available information" (FAR 91.103). ForeFlight delivers weather, NOTAMs, etc. that help a pilot meet this requirement - especially when obtaining a briefing from the file/brief system.
ForeFlight's weather comes from the National Weather Service / NOAA, which is an approved source of FAA weather.
What pilots typically are concerned about when they discuss a "legal weather briefing" is whether or not they will have some proof or record of their briefing. This is important so that in the event of an incident, they can prove they met the requirements under 91.103. We do keep a record of the briefing you get for 120 days, provided you tap the "Brief" button. If you simply look at METARs and TAFs in the app, such as on the Airports page, we don't keep a record of that. ICAO flight plan briefings are kept by Lockheed Martin Flight Services.
Last edited:
So do I.
exncsurfer
Pattern Altitude
These abbreviations are so annoying, so what does AD stand for in this one? I assume AP stands for Airport (like they couldn't use those extra 5 letters). Is it AeroDrome? I don't see AD in list of approved abbreviations in the 148 page FAA NOTAM briefing guide. AP is in there, yes, its airport!It jumps out at me:
I don't know how you could know this "for sure", unless you spend a heck of a lot of time parsing through the NOTAM stack before every flight. Good for you if you feel comfortable doing this. If the live briefer forgets something pertinent that results in a violation, I would be reasonably well protected by the recording of the phone call. If I'm relying on my eyeballs, I'd have no defense.
For local flights, I often do just use an e-briefing. For longer flights, where there are several pages of NOTAMS, I will typically call. Either way, I get FF or go IFR on almost every flight. I was nearly caught in a pop-up security TFR towards the end of a 3 hour flight several years ago, when the TFR was published 10 minutes before my flight, but my briefing was 15 minutes before the flight. FF saved me from a violation.
midwestpa24
Final Approach
All NOTAMs must begin with one of several keywords for the affected facility. This was part of the FAA adopting ICAO standards for NOTAMs. There are:
AD - Aerodrome (Which indeed means Airport)
RWY
TWY
APRON
NAV
OBST
AIRSPACE
COM
NAV
SVC
You can find all of the guidance on NOTAMS in Advisory Circular 150/5200-28. The fun part to me is that we were supposed to be going to plain language and eliminating abbreviations, but instead we have just added more.
Trivia question, why did METARs, NOTAMs, etc. originally have a need to use abbreviations? Let's see who knows the answer.
If all you care about is liability in an enforcement action, sure use a briefer.
It's little consolation however when you show up to find an airport closed or whatever because the FSS PUKE has missed the NOTAM (and having them miss NOTAMs even when I SPECIFICIALLY REQUEST ANY NOTAMS has happened to me more than a few times).
And there's rarely a "stack" of NOTAMS for a destination. The onerous ones are the FDC which FSS tends never to give you.
It's little consolation however when you show up to find an airport closed or whatever because the FSS PUKE has missed the NOTAM (and having them miss NOTAMs even when I SPECIFICIALLY REQUEST ANY NOTAMS has happened to me more than a few times).
And there's rarely a "stack" of NOTAMS for a destination. The onerous ones are the FDC which FSS tends never to give you.
ateamer
Pattern Altitude
TTY BNDWTH LMTD
midwestpa24
Final Approach
Bingo, in the days of the old teletype machines, it took time to transmit each letter. Abbreviations simplified and sped up the relay of information. There has been a lot of discussion of dropping the abbreviations and going plain language since it is entirely unnecessary given today's technology. However it seems the FAA just can't help themselves and keeps changing and creating more abbreviations. The ultimate goal is graphical NOTAMs, but that is still a little ways down the road.