Obtaining NOTAMs
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 18
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From: London
Obtaining NOTAMs
Hi there. I'm back to flying having had a bit of a break and trying to scrape the rust off....
I know this question will doubtless horrify some people, but where do I go to find and understand NOTAMs easily these days?
I remember all the mess when they were changing the systems over. Do people still use programmes like NotamPro etc?
Many thanks.
I know this question will doubtless horrify some people, but where do I go to find and understand NOTAMs easily these days?
I remember all the mess when they were changing the systems over. Do people still use programmes like NotamPro etc?
Many thanks.
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
From: EuroGA.org
How robust are these "notam plotting" programs in detecting invalid coordinate pairs?
That's the reason I avoid them.
Most of the complex coordinate pairs that appear are NAVW category and most of those cannot be usefully acted upon; they are non-mandatory avoidance, and flying activity can be anywhere anyway.
That's the reason I avoid them.
Most of the complex coordinate pairs that appear are NAVW category and most of those cannot be usefully acted upon; they are non-mandatory avoidance, and flying activity can be anywhere anyway.
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 421
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From: UK
Consider NOTAMPlot, which gets its data from a free "Guest" subscription to AvBrief.
Ian Fallon, the author has done an excellent job. The download is free, but he des ask users to consider a donation to some suggested charities.
Like all these programs, not all NOTAMs can be graphically displayed. However most are, and those that aren't are clearly identified so you can check relevance. Reduces the possibility of error immensely.
Ian Fallon, the author has done an excellent job. The download is free, but he des ask users to consider a donation to some suggested charities.
Like all these programs, not all NOTAMs can be graphically displayed. However most are, and those that aren't are clearly identified so you can check relevance. Reduces the possibility of error immensely.
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
From: EuroGA.org
I've seen some of these programs - can't remember which - plot nonsensical shapes, using lat/long pairs which contain silly human input errors. That's why I asked. Algorithmically, it's tough to detect such errors.
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 487
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From: Daventry UK
I've seen some of these programs - can't remember which - plot nonsensical shapes
It seems some pilots just ignore these geographic exercise warnings, and it's true that the controlling military authority sometimes say "what exercise?" when asked about traffic on the radio, but I find Ian Fallon's program invaluable in alerting me to the potential for conflicts in the open FIR.
(One of these notams once advertised a 'US carrier battle group with intensive flying operations' right along my track in the Western Approaches. Excited, I made sure the camera was primed. "What aircraft carrier?" St Mawgan said. "But it's in the notams!" I protested. "Oh" they said, disinterested. "We don't have any reports of that". Turned out the yanks had cancelled their courtesy call in Dublin for some reason).
