Rotorhead's opinion on NOTAMs?
 

I am doing some academic research on the NOTAM system but being an aeroplane pilot myself, I am wondering how do helicopter pilots see the system and its problems. Do you check the NOTAMs before your fight? Do you find NOTAMs about fireworks and obstacles at low level useful? If you could change the system what would you improve? I would be very interested to hear your opinions on this.

I'd prefer more plain English and less encoding. In this day and age of high speed communications, saving a few characters here and there is not worth the possibility of misinterpreting the NOTAM. Yes, I know it's a badge of honor and very manly to be able to decode this crap...but in the 21st century it's just dumb.

Also, pointer NOTAMs are stupid, dangerous and a huge pain in the you know what. Again, if the machines can figure out where to put the pointer NOTAMs they can copy and paste the original just as easily.

Finally, I'd like to see NOTAMs that have locations or regions on them be easily view-able that way on a chart. No reason Foreflight et al couldn't do that for us. It's all well and good to see a Lat/Lon or other position reference in the NOTAM, but it would be instantly clearer if, say, that crane or other obstruction became a dot on the chart.

Well there is a problem here in the UK that IMHO most pilots for whatever reason dont bother to look at them. EG load lifting across The Derwent reservoir, Notam in place as well as notifying RAF, well bugger me have a close call with a low flying Tornado flying underneath me. So begs the question what is the point !

Now there is an interesting safety issue for the Authorities to deal with.

He or she who uses NVG and doesn't regularly have a look under them for such lighting is a fool...or poorly trained.

Back to the original topic - I think the NOTAM system in the UK is flawed-but-functional and I'm aware it's under review. It has to get a complex, continuously-changing mass of information across in timely fashion, and inevitably it has faults and weaknesses. I was concerned to read a CHIRP from a corporate operator a few months ago, suggesting that as it's illegal(!) to fly below 300ft AGL (500ft AGL inside controlled airspace) there was no point promulgating any information below those heights. CHIRP were good enough to publish our response that a broad range of emergency service, para-public and infrastructure-related operators (pipeline, powerline, USL, Lighthouse Support etc) do operate legally in that airspace, and restricting their access to safety-critical information simply for the benefit of corporate ops would be contrary to best practice in flight safety terms.

We use a combination of programmes like NOTAM Info and RunwayHD to obtain a visual indication of where NOTAMs exist, backed-up by a daily check of the AIS site for our FIR (EGTT) for comparison. It is essential when using proprietary programmes to ensure that any filters they may put in place (eg Airfield Restrictions, Airfield Comms) are checked and set up so as not to miss anything relevant. We've also found that the cross-check with AIS has helped disencopulate the occasional oddity, such as Coningsby airspace restrictions appearing in Gloucestershire. Even AIS themselves have had the odd human error - inevitable when humans are in the loop, even with checks and balances.

Like Flying Bull, our task requires that we check our planned operational area rather than a straightforward point-to-point route. We are also frequently re-tasked while airborne; it's sometimes possible for us to go straight to the new area but often we'll go for a refuel and a re-plan, which gives us the chance to check/update the nav warnings. There is usually someone back in the office who is capable of checking NOTAMs, updating the CADS (UK low-level airspace users programme for improving SA, paid for by the military) and passing us the information - luxury! If we have to do the NOTAM update ourselves in flight we use RunwayHD, which requires us to climb to a safe height and share the lookout task while the new info is assimilated. I like what Flying Bull's chosen programme does in highlighting new information - must see if we can persuade Airbox to include that.

I find that submitting information for inclusion in NOTAM works well in the UK, with a simple standard format. Like Hughes500, I've also had people (civ and mil) fly through our NOTAM'd area - unprofessional. Our Training Captains and TRE on line checks/ OPCs make sure our pilots observe airspace restrictions (I might even have picked a task area with that in mind in the past...), we can only hope that other operators do the same.

Going back to the original post - do I check before every flight? Yes - and I use whatever means is available to update that information as the day goes on. Do I find info about fireworks and low-level obstructions helpful? The former was good to know during emergency services days, the latter is essential. What would I change? Right now, nothing - the AIS system works both for whole-FIR and for the rare occasions when I do a narrow route, although I struggle to see why warnings about Iraqi/ Kashmiri/ wherever airspace still make their way into UK-specific information. I have the luxury of no longer working in a time-critical emergency service, so can afford not to get airborne until all the information has been checked. For the future, a means of displaying continuously-updated aviation warnings in graphical format in every cockpit, de-cluttered in some magical way to allow every last tall crane along the Thames to be avoided whilst allowing the crew to maintain SA, would be the ideal. We'd have to pay for it, of course - so it ain't going to happen on anything other than a geological time-scale until someone famous dies as a result of inaction on this topic.

I have to say I find your feedback very interesting, the NOTAM issue is really a global one and it is difficult to see how a future system could solve the situation. Integrating NOTAMs into avionics displays is an old idea which risks cluttering the displays. On the other hand adding a dedicated screen to show NOTAMs is probably something the industry wouldnt want to do. I am very much concerned about those of you operating at lower levels, especially with the future integration of drones into the air traffic system. The industry is gradually realizing that a new operational concept is needed but we lack the idea of what it should look like. Such discussions are often heavily dominated by airlines and ansp's , forgetting that these might be the majority of users, but not the only users. Thanks a lot! your feedback was very helpful!

RocketRoute

I have been using it for years now in about 30 different countries - helicopter and VFR. It is not USA centric like a lot of other offerings.

Web based & iOS & Android.

Works pretty well - geographic NOTAM location - click on the button - eh viola!!

NOTAM Report example

Gets my vote.