Ive got to agree with Mr Cross on this one.
The NOTAMS system is a complete mess. Looks more like its run by the legal dept than by an operational department to enhance flight safety. ie If we put absolutely everything in there, then no one can say they didnt know about it, so they cant sue us.
No thought to the fact that there is so much rubbish, you cant find what is relevant to your flight.
The main problem is that there is no good way to filter the information to get what you need. If I am flying a VFR flight from A to B at 1500ft, I do not need to know about 80% or more of the stuff that comes up in the NOTAMS.
Similarly if I'm doing an IFR flight at FL270, I dont need to know about NOTAMS for parachute jumping or tethered balloons.
When Im at work, flying out of LGW, my company has a nice system, such that it prints out the NOTAMS relevant to my route, thus most are applicable and worth looking at. When I want to fly my own aircraft I can look at the AIS web site and spend ages trying to find something relevant in amongst the pages of rubbish!
Mr Cross is exaclty right that a lot of these NOTAMS are just wasting people's time. AS I said I fly out of LGW but it is no use to me to have a NOTAM that stand 11 is closed. If it is closed, then I wont find my aircraft parked there and my company and ATC wont tell me to park there when I return!! Yes, the Airport Authority needs to tell the operators who might want to use that stand and the local ATC, but they are the only ones who need to know!
And the change in airfield elevation of a few feet is completely useless too. I descend to the DA got from the plates or performance book. If the elevation change had that drastic effect on my approach then the plates would have to be changed or a NOTAM issued that the Minima had changed. ( but again only IFR flights need to know this, so I should be able to not get this info if I tell the system that I'm a VFR flight.
Yes, you ATC people are right, there needs to be a NOTAMS system, but it needs to be useable by everyone, in a format that they get the information relevant to their flight, not just to please the lawyers.