Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

NOTAM Confusion

Asked by: 3776 views ,
FAA Regulations, General Aviation

I was reading up on NOTAM decoding and I came across this page,  https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/courses/content/43/595/Decoding%20the%20D%20NOTAM.pdf It is a document from the FAA which describes how to decode a NOTAM (D). Specifically, it refers to the following NOTAM:

!MIV MIV RWY 10/28 CLSD WEF 0707011200- 0802011200-0802051600
There is nothing in the document, which I can see, that tells me the the first set of numbers is for,  0707011200.  I know the last two numbers are the WEF numbers, but what is the first number?  I assume that it may be the time the NOTAM was issues, but this is not explained in the document.  It seems to be an oversight.
   

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on May 01, 2015

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

    Information contained in NOTAMs relates to safety. As such, the information should be presented in a clear, easily understandable fashion. Pilots should not need a secret decoder ring to figure out what a NOTAM means. In the olden days when teletype machines were used, this may have been needed, but in this day and age of high speed internet, there is no place for coded information and the obvious confusion it creates.

    This information is important and there should be no question about the content.

    As to your question, the number 0707011200 is a date. It is connected to the other two dates by a hyphen. Its significance is unclear and this is the big problem with the NOTAM system.

    +7 Votes Thumb up 7 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Skyfox on Jan 21, 2016

    I’ve been looking through hundreds of NOTAMs and have been unable to find any with three time blocks like what you show from that NOTAM decoding sheet so I could run it through the Duats plain language decoder. The closest I’ve found is, “…OBSERVED AT 1601211307. 1601211307-1601221307,” which clearly shows the distinction between the observed time and the range of time the matter will be in effect. My best guess is that whoever was editing that informational sheet was trying to change the time it listed, mistakenly left the first half of the previous time block, and didn’t notice the typo before publication. If you should ever find a NOTAM that shows three time blocks like what you’re trying to figure out, definitely run it through the translator on Duats, or alternatively call up flight service and see if they can tell you what it means.

    On a side note, it seems the abbreviation “WEF” (when in effect) might be no longer used. When I searched NOTAMs on a fictional flight from JFK to LAX, which covers a lot of land, nowhere on the page did the word WEF appear.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.