New US NOTAM system that will go into effect June 30

Written by Head of Training | 24 June 2011

US AOPA is urging pilots to become familiar with changes to the notice to airman (notam) system that will go into effect June 30

The changes come as the FAA transitions to a notam system “that is more compliant with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization to enable more global consistency in notams,” the FAA said in a notice of the scheduled format changes.

Some notam language will change, “and should result in easier to read and understand notams” when the revisions become effective, the FAA said.

Under the FAA’s new order, notams relating to standard instrument departures (SIDs), graphic obstacle clearance departures (ODPs) and standard terminal arrivals (STARs) will be issued as Flight Data Center (FDC) notams, instead of as D (distant) notams.

New keywords ODP, SID, STAR, CHART, DATA, IAP, VFP, ROUTE, and SPECIAL will be added. The keyword RAMP will be replaced with the keyword APRON.

Components of an instrument landing system (ILS) in a notam will be distinguished by preceding the component (e.g. glideslope) with “ILS” followed by “RWY” and the runway number.