Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Approach Notam NA

Asked by: 2930 views Instrument Rating

One of the very few instrument approaches in the area is a RNAV GPS. It was recently published and has had a Notam saying its NA (not authorized). We have been using it for training and it works great, however the local DPEs are saying they cannot use it for an instrument checkride, as long as it’s notam’d NA. Does that sound right? Is there anywhere I could point them to change their opinion? The next closest approach is 3 hours round trip flying. 

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.

3 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Dec 18, 2018

    Although I sympathize with your situation, I tend to agree with the examiners. For one, in broad terms, you don’t know why the procedure is NOTAM’ed NA. NOTAMs are sent for safety reasons, so it could be anything.

    In addition, you are required during a checkride to fly “instrument approaches.”

    An “instrument approach” is defined in 61.1 as “an approach procedure defined in part 97 of this chapter.”

    14 CFR Part 97 is very short and basically says “all published instrument procedures are incorporate by reference into this part”.

    When a NOTAM is sent on a procedure, it is effectively changing Part 97. If the procedure is NOTAMed NA, then it is effectively being removed from Part 97. And therefore is no longer an “instrument approach”.

    Therefore, I think the DPEs are on solid ground here.

    However, I also wouldn’t really have any problem if the DPEs, given your location, decided to go ahead and use the approach anyway, since the checkride is VFR.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Russ Roslewski on Dec 18, 2018

    Meant to add – where are you? What approach is this? I’m guessing on a Pacific island or somewhere in Alaska by your scenario.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. KDS on Dec 19, 2018

    Examiners can only use real approaches. A similar issue comes up when there is an NDB or VOR well away from an airport and you might think it would be a good idea to use it with an approach that only used on navigation facility. Other than tune and identify, it would seem to be a reasonable test. However, the FAA doesn’t allow examiners to do that.

    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.