Air to Ground
HEADS UP – NOTAMS ARE A CHANGIN’!
Airport managers, pilots and anyone having anything to do with flying should keep an eye on upcoming changes to the NOTAM system. The FAA is moving ahead with the plan to bring the U.S. into compliance with the ICAO requirements for NOTAMs. In many cases there are significant changes to contractions and format styles. This style will be familiar if you fly in Canadian airspace.
The NOTAM handbook, (FAA Order JO 7930.2M) is being changed in stages beginning now through next spring. There are a few changes we will go over below that are already effective.
In the past the contraction PAEW (People and equipment working) was the contraction used in NOTAMs for everything from mowing the grass to repairs to other maintenance on and around the airport. PAEW is not an ICAO approved contraction- from now on you will see spelled out “WORK IN PROGRESS” followed by specifics. If only a portion of the runway or taxiway is being referred to, plain language will be delivered in text form only – no contractions. For example:
!SBY SBY TWY E BTN RWY 5/23 AND TWY A WORK IN PROGRESS TRENCHING SOUTH SIDE
!IAD IAD RWY 1L/19R WORK IN PROGRESS MAINTENANCE VEHICLES EAST SIDE OF RWY
!MEM MEM APRON FEDEX FEEDER RAMP WORK IN PROGRESS RESURFACING WEST HALF
!MCI MCI RWY 1L/19R WORK IN PROGRESS SNOW REMOVAL
Also, ICAO standards do not allow for more than one runway to be addressed at a time in the body of a NOTAM. Therefore, “ALL RWYS ALTERNATELY CLSD” will no longer be allowed. This will significantly affect snow removal NOTAMs or “SNOTAMs”. In the past it has frequently been the manager’s practice to use one NOTAM to let pilots know that runways are closed off and on for snow removal. Now each time a runway is closed and opened a NOTAM will have to be issued and/or cancelled.
One option that managers will still have is that you can have a NOTAM that covers the whole airport and you can still combine taxiways.
!ICT ICT AD ALL SURFACES WORK IN PROGRESS SNOW REMOVAL
!DSM DSM TWY D4, D5, D6, TWY B BTN RWY 13/31 AND TWY D, TWY D WEST OF RWY 5/23 WORK INPROGRESS SNOW REMOVAL
Another small change, the keyword RAMP is being removed. All NOTAMs related to ramps are now tucked into the keyword category of APRON.
Something else new relates to the keywords which allow computers to sort through the hundreds of NOTAMs to retrieve the ones needed. Right now at the beginning of a NOTAM you see keywords such as RWY, AD, SVC, etc…. There are also words in the body of a NOTAM that computers can pick up on quickly such as CLSD or OTS.
By Rose Marie Kern