Chapter 1
Introduction To Flying
NOTAMs contain the elements below from left to right in the following order:
• An exclamation point (!)
• Accountability Location (the identifier of the accountability location)
• Affected Location (the identifier of the affected facility or location)
• KEYWORD (one of the following: RWY, TWY, RAMP, APRON, AD, COM, NAV, SVC, OBST, AIRSPACE, (U) and (O))
• Surface Identification (optional—this shall be the runway identification for runway related NOTAMs, the taxiway identification for taxiway-related NOTAMs, or the ramp/apron identification for ramp/ apron-related NOTAMs)
• Condition (the condition being reported)
• Time (identifies the effective time(s) of the NOTAM condition)
Altitude and height are in feet mean sea level (MSL) up to 17,999; e.g., 275, 1225 (feet and MSL is not written), and in flight levels (FL) for 18,000 and above; e.g., FL180, FL550. When MSL is not known, above ground level (AGL) will be written (304 AGL).
When time is expressed in a NOTAM, the day begins at 0000 and ends at 2359. Times used in the NOTAM system are universal time coordinated (UTC) and shall be stated in 10 digits (year, month, day, hour, and minute). The following are two examples of how the time would be presented:
!DCA LDN NAV VOR OTS WEF 0708051600-0708052359
!DCA LDN NAV VOR OTS WEF 0709050000-0709050400
NOTAM Dissemination and Availability
The system for disseminating aeronautical information is made up of two subsystems: the Airmen's Information System (AIS) and the NOTAM System. The AIS consists of charts and publications and is disseminated by the following methods:
Aeronautical charts depicting permanent baseline data:
- IFR Charts-Enroute High Altitude Conterminous U.S., Enroute Low Altitude Conterminous U.S., Alaska Charts, and Pacific Charts
- U.S. Terminal Procedures-Departure Procedures (DPs), Standard Terminal Arrivals (STARs) and Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs)
- VFR Charts-Sectional Aeronautical Charts, Terminal Area Charts (TAC), and World Aeronautical Charts (WAC)
Flight information publications outlining baseline data:
- Notices to Airmen (NTAP)-Published by System Operations Services, System Operations and Safety, Publications, every 28 days)
- Chart Supplement U.S. (formerly Airport/Facility Directory)
- Pacific Chart Supplement
- Alaska Supplement
- Alaska Terminal
- Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM)
NOTAMs are available in printed form through subscription from the Superintendent of Documents, from an FSS, or online at PilotWeb (www.pilotweb.nas.faa.gov), which provides access to current NOTAM information. Local airport NOTAMs can be obtained online from various websites. Some examples are www.fltplan.com and www. aopa.org/whatsnew/notams.html. Most sites require a free registration and acceptance of terms but offer pilots updated NOTAMs and TFRs.
Safety Program Airmen Notification System (SPANS)
In 2004, the FAA launched the Safety Program Airmen Notification System (SPANS), an online event notification system that provides timely and easy-to-assess seminar and event information notification for airmen. The SPANS system is taking the place of the current paper-based mail system. This provides better service to airmen while reducing costs for the FAA. Anyone can search the SPANS system and register for events. To read more about SPANS, visit www.faasafety.gov/spans.
Aircraft Classifications and Ultralight Vehicles
The FAA uses various ways to classify or group machines operated or flown in the air. The most general grouping uses the term aircraft. This term is in 14 CFR 1.1 and means a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air.
Ultralight vehicle is another general term the FAA uses. This term is defined in 14 CFR 103. As the term implies, powered ultralight vehicles must weigh less than 254 pounds empty weight and unpowered ultralight vehicles must weigh less than 155 pounds. Rules for ultralight vehicles are significantly different from rules for aircraft; ultralight vehicle certification, registration, and operation rules are also contained in 14 CFR 103.
The FAA differentiates aircraft by their characteristics and physical properties. Key groupings defined in 14 CFR 1.1 include:
- Airplane-an engine-driven fixed-wing aircraft heavier than air, that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings.
- Glider-a heavier-than-air aircraft, that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its lifting surfaces and whose free flight does not depend principally on an engine.
- Lighter-than-air aircraft-an aircraft that can rise and remain suspended by using contained gas weighing less than the air that is displaced by the gas.
- Airship-an engine-driven lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered.
- Balloon-a lighter-than-air aircraft that is not engine driven, and that sustains flight through the use of either gas buoyancy or an airborne heater.
- Powered-lift-a heavier-than-air aircraft capable of vertical takeoff, vertical landing, and low speed flight that depends principally on engine-driven lift devices or engine thrust for lift during these flight regimes and on nonrotating airfoil(s) for lift during horizontal flight.
- Powered parachute-a powered aircraft comprised of a flexible or semi-rigid wing connected to a fuselage
- so that the wing is not in position for flight until the aircraft is in motion. The fuselage of a powered
- parachute contains the aircraft engine, a seat for each occupant and Is attached to the aircraft's landing gear.
- Rocket-an aircraft propelled by ejected expanding gases generated in the engine from self-contained propellants and not dependent on the intake of outside substances. It includes any part which becomes separated during the operation.
- Rotorcraft-a heavier-than-air aircraft that depends principally for its support in flight on the lift generated by one or more rotors.
- Gyroplane-a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-driven, except for Initial starting, but
- are made to rotate by action of the air when the rotorcraft Is moving; and whose means of
- propulsion, consisting usually of conventional propellers, is Independent of the rotor system.
- Helicopter-a rotorcraft that, for its horizontal motion, depends principally on its engine-driven rotors.
- Weight-shift-control-a powered aircraft with a framed pivoting wing and a fuselage controllable only in pitch and roll by the pilot's ability to change the aircraft’s center of gravity with respect to the wing. Flight control of the aircraft depends on the wing's ability to flexibly deform rather than the use of control surfaces.