I sent the attached to NATS yesterday
As a PPL who flies from a smaller airfield, where the pre-flight briefing facilities are moderately basic, I have relied on self-briefing using a utility called NOTAM Plot, which downloads live data from the AIS Web Site into a readily viewable graphic display. This enables rapid assimilation of which NOTAMs are relevant to my proposed trip and permits me to concentrate on detailed review of relevant NOTAMs.
With the launch of the new NOTAM Web site, this facility has now been removed as the NOTAM Text files are no longer available. I have not yet registered with your new site, but I have been advised by others who have that that obtaining a list of NOTAMs applicable to the proposed route is complex and that the end product is, at best, of limited usefulness.
May I request that the plain text facility be permitted to remain in place at least until all the teething problems with the new site are resolved and users have gained some basic level of familiarity with the new system.The bulletins that used to be provided under the old web-site are no longer
available.
The following response has been received:
Please find attached a document to help you with your briefings.
A temporary Account:
Username: AISTEMP
Password: password
has been made available until the 20th September while people register themselves.
People are now getting a 'Full' briefing. While that might be a shock to the system, I'm sorry, that is what is going on and is relevant to the flying community.
People are doing so many differing forms of flying it would be dangerous if we were to continue to assume that we know what to restrict and what not to restrict. The web-site does allow you to use the tools available to filter the NOTAM to the type of flying activity you undertake.
Out of interest, a friend saw a good one on Wednesday afternoon (21 Aug 02): during a display at Weymouth seafront, which was scheduled to include the Sparra's, a Cessna of some variety pootled straight across Weymouth Bay whilst a Harrier was in the middle of a display routine. The visual estimates of miss distances were around 2-300m. The reg of the Cessna was noted and I have looked it up - it was registered to a Bournemouth Club. Someone obviously didn't do a very good job of reading *his* NOTAMS!
