NOTAMS and why they need to be checked....

[scooter boy]

At least the other pilots bothered to put a radio call in and check.
I hope they were spoken to politely.
As far as I am concerned interpreting NOTAMs in their current impenetrable state is tedious and prone to error - the problem is with the system - I cannot help but sympathise with people caught out by events such as yours.

I check them on long flights but locally rely on radio contact, a knowledge of where the red arrows are going to be and ATC to steer me clear. When I file IFR I glance at them but they are definitely not user friendly enough.

We need legible graphical relevant NOTAM presentation - the current presentation is not acceptable in any of the available formats,

SB