Do you always check notams
 

The thought was inspited by the PPR thread and a situation last week.

"Our" airfield is in class G airspace with the nearest neighbour airfield twelve miles away.

A notam was issued for temporary class D airspace from the surface two miles to the east and from 2100 ft two miles to the south.

By chance the AG operator picked it up, but would you? Do you check notams for a local bimble?

D.O.

Yes.

But I fly from a controlled airfield which mandates flight plans for every flight. So when I'm in homebriefing.nl it's only a few extra clicks.

Yes, it's a couple of clicks on a computer, what's so hard or time consuming about that? If you didn't check them and blundered into some aerobatic competion or such like then you would be quite rightly lambasted.

I had the amazement last summer of listening to a guy give a position report of 'above Langar', to which he got the reply from East Mids of 'There is a live drop taking place at this time...'.

I have to be careful what I say really being a wet behind the ears new boy but some of the flying and radio discipline I've seen and heard from so called experienced aviators leaves a lot to be desired.

I would echo thing's comments. It takes barely minutes to produce and digest a NOTAM brief, there really is no excuse for not doing it before every flight. Being a newly-qualified PPL holder also, I just try to continue flying to the same high standards to which I was taught.. :-)

I learned that lesson a long time ago in the USA. I set sail for an airport not so far away. When I tuned the unicom a fair distance out. I heard a military sounding voice announcing he was departing, adding 'Great show'. When I called the voice on the other end told there was an airshow ongoing, 'It was NOTAM'd'. Nevertheless he offered to get me in, as is the way in America. I declined and thanked him. On the way back I shuddered at that thought of meeting an F16 or something head on during it's display routine.

On a local bimble, getting the NOTAMs couldn't be eaier through NATS AIS. A simple point brief with a radius you will not exceed, and any airfields you are likely to use.

The more complex ones are long nav trips through multiple FIRs. Here you end up with tons of lat and long, trying to find where an aerobatics display or royal flight might be, and this is where other sites/software which can plot it on a map make life a lot easier.

Yes, of course.

Quick anecdote. A year or two ago, I was heading North from Halton. Straight line route was over Silverstone which is normally a good landmark and something for the passenger to look at. That day, there was a Typhoon display NOTAMed. We saw it in the distance as we routed to the east. If I had not checked, at the very least I would have spoiled the display and got several massive bollockings. At worst, I would have destroyed two aeroplanes, killed myself, my son, an RAF pilot and potentially lots of spectators. Hence, quite possibly have caused a hand guns / dangerous dogs reaction against light aviation from the politicians.

Oh and while I still use the AIS site as well, for the UK there is now a free to use, NATS approved NOTAM display tool here:

SkyDemon Light

NOTAM checking is not, and never really has been an issue. It's only a problem if you live in an isolated shed in the wilds of the Shetland Islands and don't have a PC or internet connection.

There are so many third party products now as well as 'the official one', that checking NOTAMs is as easy as it's going to get. There's even graphical NOTAM programmes online, just as reliable as 'the official one', but obviosuly not guaranteed. Works well enough for me.

And I agree with 'Thing' that idiots who arrive over a para DZ without knowing that parachuting is taking place need to have their license torn up. We even got student pilots calling up to route overhead the DZ, obviously with a FI on board as well. Flight planning???:ugh:

www.ippc.no - When it's a simple as this then everyone should!

OK, AIS is not quite that simple but Sky Demon light pretty much is and you get a graphical output, including for complex things like Red Arrows transit routes.

Like the Airspace Aware, SDL is a great piece of NATS instigated and endorsed kit.

Aware GPS | Nats Aware GPS Airspace Warning Device

I am banging on about them because I have been to two otherwise apparently well run PPL FTOs in the last six months that have never heard of at least one of them.

Always check notams.

Well, sometimes one forgets and the most recent occassion I did forget I got caught by a royal flight TRA near Farnborough and ATC sent me halfway around the country...

Even on the NATS site it is only a few mins to run a narrow route briefing and if you knock up one which is say 20nm wide and zigzags around your patch, it will pick up anything affecting the local area, plus your airfield.

Yes, now Skydemonlight makes it a reasonable process.

Two years ago I conducted a PPL Skill Test where the candidate made no attempt to brief me about the NOTAMS, I could tell from the look on his face that he had no idea what I was talking about. After a few more questions I presented him with my NOTAM printout and asked if he had seen these before. NO was the reply. So here we had a fairly capable pilot who had completed his entire PPL training without ever having been taught about or shown a NOTAM.
So clearly, there are people who go flying without checking NOTAMS!

Way back in the dark ages when I did my PPL, which was of course before the internet etc, I didn't even learn that NOTAMs existed until almost the end of my PPL course! I seem to remember that it was sheer chance that I heard about them. So Whopity's example is not unique.

Whopity, you sure he was telling the truth? He should have picked up the concept of NOTAMS from the theory, surely?

BB

A classic example of folks not checking NOTAMs is the surprising number of pilots still calling Cottesmore LARS and making an a**e of themselves and clogging up the R/T by asking for a MATZ crossing.

Ah, no excuse for not knowing about Cottesmore Matz being de activated but if you transfer from say Waddo zone to Cottesmore then you will still get 'hand over to Cottesmore on 130.2' and when you call them they still answer as Cottesmore, which is weird because the should be calling themselves Wittering Approach surely?

No, they are still "Cottesmore" as they remain responsible for the Cottesmore LARS Service until told otherwise.

I see. I think. Are the guys on Cottesmore LARS really Wittering Approach then just using a different name? Or are they interchangeable? It being the same frequency and all that.

Ditto with SkyDemonLight. In particular the graphical display of Red Arrows and BBMF routes has proved invaluable in flight planning to avoid them. The chart information displayed can easily be checked as well.

The only failing I've seen is that the updates are not real time, so instant NOTAMS are not displayed, only those included in monthly updates. We've seen several months worth of delays showing new wind turbine masts.

I use SDL first, and top up with AIS