In this letter to the editor, both authors respond to the story “FAA Fast-Tracks NOTAM System Upgrade.” Radio World welcomes letters to the editor on this or any story. Email [email protected].
As a pilot, I must say that the current Notice to Air Missions system is a bit like drinking from a fire hose. There are often numerous NOTAMs for a given facility (airport or route), and it’s easy for an important one to get lost in that crowd. Just now I looked and there are over 100 NOTAMS that come up in a NOTAM search for my home airport! Only five of those deal with tower light outages, and none were for towers higher than 230 ft. AGL. It’s easy to miss one as you do your flight planning.
I do hope that the FAA, in modernizing the system, will somehow prioritize NOTAMS so that those that can truly impact safety are front and center so that they’re not overlooked.
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