A NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) exists because a chart, no matter how recently printed, is already out of date the moment something changes: a runway closes for repaving, a light goes out, a temporary restriction pops up. NOTAMs are how that gap between "what the chart says" and "what's actually true right now" gets closed, and reviewing them properly is a required, not optional, part of flight planning.
A NOTAM is a short, time-critical notice about a change to the aeronautical system, anything from a runway closure to an inoperative navaid to newly established special use airspace, that isn't yet reflected on published charts and won't be until the next publication cycle. Checking NOTAMs before a flight is a required part of preflight planning under 14 CFR 91.103, alongside weather and performance data.
| Category | Covers |
|---|---|
| NOTAM (D) / Distant | Airport and navaid specific info: runway/taxiway closures, lighting, obstructions |
| FDC NOTAM | Regulatory changes: TFRs, amended instrument procedures, chart corrections |
| Military NOTAM | Military airport and MOA/range activity, distributed separately from civil NOTAMs |
| Pointer NOTAM | Draws attention to another NOTAM (often an FDC or TFR) affecting a wider area |
A standard NOTAM follows a fixed structure: a NOTAM number (a letter and four digits, e.g. A0123/26), the affected location's identifier, the subject and condition using standard abbreviations, and effective start and end times in Zulu (UTC), formatted as year-month-day-hour-minute. Abbreviations are dense but standardized: "RWY" for runway, "CLSD" for closed, "TWY" for taxiway, "OBST" for obstruction, "U/S" for unserviceable.
!KABC 08/015 KABC RWY 09/27 CLSD 2609081200-2609091800
At Springfield (KABC), runway 09/27 is closed, effective the 8th of September (2026) at 1200Z through the 9th at 1800Z. Reading a NOTAM is mechanical once the abbreviation set is familiar: location, subject, condition, then the time window, in that order, every time.
FDC (Flight Data Center) NOTAMs carry regulatory weight: they amend instrument approach procedures, publish new Temporary Flight Restrictions, and correct chart errors. Because they can directly change a procedure's legality or minimums, they deserve particular attention when planning an IFR flight or a flight anywhere near an area with active TFR activity (major sporting events, VIP movements, wildfires, disaster response).
A TFR defines airspace where flight is restricted, sometimes to all aircraft and sometimes only to aircraft without specific authorization, for a defined period and reason: presidential movements, major sporting events, disaster or firefighting response, or space launch operations. TFRs are published as FDC NOTAMs and can appear or change with very little notice, which is exactly why checking NOTAMs close to the actual flight time, not days in advance, matters.
NOTAMs are available through official sources (a standard weather briefing, the FAA's NOTAM search tool) and through most electronic flight bag apps, which typically organize them more usefully by route and airport than a raw text dump. Whatever the source, the underlying data and coded format is the same; the presentation is just more or less convenient to review.
Rather than reading every NOTAM along a route with equal attention, a practical approach is to triage: scan departure and destination airport NOTAMs first (since they affect the parts of the flight with the least margin for surprise), then check for any TFRs along the route, then review enroute navaid or airway NOTAMs relevant to the specific navigation method being used.
Planning a flight from KABC to KXYZ, the departure airport NOTAM shows a taxiway closure requiring an alternate taxi route, the destination shows the ILS glideslope out of service (meaning only localizer minimums are available if flying that approach), and a route-wide TFR search reveals a new sporting-event TFR partially overlapping the planned route, requiring a reroute around its lateral boundaries. None of this appears on any chart, all of it comes from the NOTAM review.
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This guide is intended for educational and training purposes only. It is not a substitute for official FAA publications, an authorized ground school, or qualified flight instruction, and should not be used as a sole source for real-world flight planning, dispatch, or operational decisions.