Late within the night of Jan. 10, 2023, an necessary digital system referred to as NOTAM run by the Federal Aviation Administration went offline. The FAA was capable of proceed getting essential data to pilots in a single day utilizing a phone-based backup, however the stopgap couldn’t sustain with the morning rush of flights, and on Jan. 11, 2022, the FAA grounded all business flights within the U.S. In whole, almost 7,000 flights had been canceled. Brian Strzempkowksi is the interim director of the Heart for Aviation Research at The Ohio State College and a business pilot, flight teacher and dispatcher. He explains what the NOTAM system is and why planes can’t fly if the system goes down.

What’s NOTAM?

Aviation is stuffed with acronyms, and Discover to Air Missions, or NOTAM, is one acronym that pilots study early on of their coaching. A NOTAM is kind of merely a message that’s disseminated to flight crews of each plane within the US.

The NOTAM system is a pc community run by the Federal Aviation Administration that gives real-time updates to crews about conditions regarding climate, infrastructure, floor situations or anything which will have an effect on the protection of flight. Educated professionals—like air site visitors controllers, airport managers, airport operations personnel, and FAA personnel accountable for nationwide airspace infrastructure—can entry the system and enter any data they should share broadly.

Pilots, air site visitors controllers, and anybody else who must find out about flying situations can entry the NOTAM system and make applicable modifications to deliberate flights. It’s much like checking the site visitors in your telephone or on the native information earlier than you head to work within the morning. A site visitors report will inform you of potential hazards or backups on the roadways which will lead you’re taking a unique path to work.

What’s within the NOTAM system and the way is it used?

NOTAMs are issued for a variety of causes. A number of the notices are good to know however don’t have an effect on a flight—akin to personnel mowing grass alongside a runway or a crane engaged on a constructing subsequent to the airport. Others are extra essential, akin to a runway being closed due to snow, ice or injury, forcing a aircraft to take off or land on a unique runway. Modifications in entry to airspace are additionally logged with a NOTAM. For instance, airspace is all the time closed above the president and when she or he travels; a NOTAM will alert pilots to modifications in airspace closures.

Pilots evaluate these NOTAMs throughout their preflight briefings. Usually that is achieved digitally utilizing a pc, however pilots and air site visitors controllers can even entry the system by calling flight service briefers, who can share reside climate and NOTAM data. Airline pilots additionally depend on their dispatchers to relay any related NOTAMs not solely earlier than but additionally through the flight.

The NOTAMs themselves use lots of abbreviations and are sometimes cryptic to nonaviation of us, however a small quantity of textual content can carry lots of data. Tons of of various acronyms can convey a variety of knowledge, from taxiway closures to sure kinds of airport lighting being out of service to a discover that some pavement markings could also be obscured.

However not all NOTAMs are simple. I bear in mind as soon as seeing a discover from an airport alerting pilots {that a} hearth division was conducting a managed burn of a home close by.

Why can’t you fly if the NOTAM system is down?

The Federal Aviation Authority requires flight crews to evaluate NOTAMs earlier than each flight for security causes. With out entry to this data, a aircraft can’t legally depart, as a result of there could also be an unknown hazard forward.

For instance, a pilot departing Seattle to fly to Miami would want to know that the Miami airport is open, that the runways are clear and that every one the navigational sources—like GPS alerts and ground-based navigation antennas—{that a} pilot might use whereas within the air are working. Theoretically, they might name the Miami airport and ask, after which name the one who oversees each navigational support on their route, however that might take lots of time. A way more environment friendly solution to collect this data earlier than and through a flight is to make use of the NOTAM system.

On the finish of the day, the NOTAM system is about security. When the system is down, pilots can’t fly as safely. It’s for good motive that planes don’t go wherever except the NOTAM system is up and working.

Brian Strzempkowski is Interim Director, Heart for Aviation Research, The Ohio State College

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