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FAA NOTAM System Outage

fly.faa.gov

131–140 of 230 posts

Re: FAA NOTAM System Outage

#132
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is someone who is planning multiple divert airports seriously expected to retain all of that information and recall it in the case of an emergency? Seems like 10% of that info might be kinda useful to know and 90% of it is “BY FLYING IN OUR DIRECTION YOU AGREED TO ACCEPT …”

Not retain it, you probably have a copy with you which you would read if you did end up diverting somewhere. NOTAMs also affect which airports go in your "would divert to" list when you're planning the flight. E.g. if the NOTAMs say AirportA's lights are unserviceable, you wouldn't plan it as a diversion airport for your night flight.

Seems to me like “I am in a sudden aircraft emergency” is not the best time for a pilot to begin reading dry material.

Re: FAA NOTAM System Outage

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it’s up to airline how they present NOTAMS to the pilot in the briefing package. They can (and do) use geolocation present in some (many) NOTAMs to filter them out. For example do not show the NOTAM just because the flight path intersects with the airspace. They can do even better - consider not only location but also altitude range, the best flight planning systems can consider also estimated time of arrival of…

Airlines aren't the only things doing "air missions" - there is software that filters out much of it, but it IS quite archaic (similar to how the "official weather" notifications are set out). Look at the Ukraine one for a pretty scary example.

Nit: it's just "Ukraine" not "the Ukraine." See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine

Re: FAA NOTAM System Outage

#136
post #98
post #56

Fun stuff about NOTAMs: https://fixingnotams.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Field-Gu...

Fun but deadly. They’re not wrong about the absolute avalanche of irrelevant data that will be used to show you “you should have known” - hence the proliferation of “interpretation” services.

100%. As a GA pilot who mostly flies under IFR, the NOTAM system is borderline useless to me.

For every warning about an approach being altered or a runway closed, there are 100s of "birds invof airport" or "unlit crane 50' AGL 5 miles from the field" NOTAMs. And even for the relevant NOTAMs, Foreflight will highlight them for approaches etc and ATC won't send you to a closed runway or taxiway.

Re: FAA NOTAM System Outage

#137
post #56

Fun stuff about NOTAMs: https://fixingnotams.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Field-Gu...

OpsGroup, the organisation behind that guide is also worth mentioning. It's a self-organised advocacy organization for flight operations personnel. Apparently they have a longstanding campaign to reform the NOTAM system (as explained in the guide).

They also have a summary of today's incident: https://ops.group/blog/us-flights-delayed-after-notam-system...

Re: FAA NOTAM System Outage

#138

The NOTAM system is embarrassing. This just tops it off. Actually, our whole ATC system and the way the FAA operates is embarrassing. It all works kind of like waste management in NYC. If they were to add new tech and efficiency, fewer people would have jobs, so we keep doing it the old way to the detriment of everyone else.

So basically it's the same as every other government entity?

Re: FAA NOTAM System Outage

#139
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airlines aren't the only things doing "air missions" - there is software that filters out much of it, but it IS quite archaic (similar to how the "official weather" notifications are set out). Look at the Ukraine one for a pretty scary example.

Nit: it's just "Ukraine" not "the Ukraine." See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine

Try replacing it in the sentence - it doesn't work, "the" is modifying "one" not Ukraine.

I suppose it could have been written "the Ukrainian one" but the the would still be there.

Re: FAA NOTAM System Outage

#140
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airlines aren't the only things doing "air missions" - there is software that filters out much of it, but it IS quite archaic (similar to how the "official weather" notifications are set out). Look at the Ukraine one for a pretty scary example.

Nit: it's just "Ukraine" not "the Ukraine." See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine

Double nit: this was not a misuse the deprecated term "The Ukraine" but the correct use of 'the' attaching to "Ukrainian one" referring to the NOTAM basically telling everyone to remain clear of Ukrainian airspace.
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