NOTAMS Transitioning to ICAO Format
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Editor’s Note (10/23/2024): The FAA has indicated that it will miss its December 2024 target for ICAO format NOTAMs and that the change will occur late 2025.
By December 2024, all NOTAMs issued by the FAA will be distributed using the ICAO format.
In this article:
- WHY ARE NOTAMS TRANSITIONING TO THE NEW ICAO FORMAT?
- HOW TO READ THE NEW ICAO NOTAM FORMAT
- WHAT IS THE NOTAM SERIES?
- WHAT IS THE NOTAM ACTION (N,R,C)?
- AN ICAO NOTAM EXAMPLE
- WHAT IS IN THE NOTAM QUALIFIER LINE?
WHY ARE NOTAMs TRANSITIONING TO THE NEW ICAO FORMAT
Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMs) provide pilots, operators, and aircrews with essential information about the abnormal status of a component of the national airspace system that could affect a flight from being completed as planned. Yet, because of how NOTAMs are currently written, pilots often can’t identify or miss critical flight information about where they can fly and any issues with departure or arrival airports.
To help address this serious safety risk, the FAA is making the data more accessible and readable by adopting the ICAO standardized format. Essentially, NOTAMs will be much easier to read and interpret.
HOW TO READ THE NEW ICAO FORMAT
The ICAO NOTAM contains specific mandatory and optional fields similar to the domestic NOTAM format with the addition of the qualifier line which is described in further detail below.
WHAT IS THE NOTAM SERIES
In the ICAO format, NOTAMs are organized by series, with each series covering a specific NOTAM condition. The NOTAM series replaces the keywords previously used in the domestic format. The Series is the first element of the NOTAM, followed by the NOTAM Number. NOTAMs are numbered consecutively by Flight Information Region (FIR), and series beginning with S0001 each year. The FAA will utilize 13 different series for NOTAMs as follows:
WHAT IS THE NOTAM ACTION
The Action indicates the type of NOTAM:
- NOTAM(N) contains New information
- NOTAM(R) Replaces previous NOTAM
- NOTAM(C) Cancels previous non-auto cancel NOTAM
AN ICAO NOTAM EXAMPLE
In this example, we will examine a NOTAM issued for the Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD) closing Runway 05L/23R for a specific period of time.
In the current (traditional) NOTAM format, the notice would read:
!ORD 02/001 RWY 05L/23R CLSD 2202141700-2202141900
In the new ICAO format, the same information would be presented as follows:
B0667/22 NOTAMN
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
A) KORD
B) 2202141700
C) 2202141900
E) RWY 05L/23R CLSD
WHAT IS IN THE NOTAM QUALIFIER LINE
A qualifier line contains coded information, coordinates, and radius for area for the automated filtering of NOTAMs.
The first element of the qualifier line is the Flight Information Regions (FIR) In the US, the FIR identifier is an ARTCC identifier. In the example above, KZAU (Chicago) is used as the FIR.
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
The second element of the qualifier line is the NOTAM code. The NOTAM Code forms the basis upon which NOTAM qualifiers TRAFFIC, PURPOSE, and SCOPE are determined for inclusion in Item Q) of the NOTAM Format, in addition to defining the abbreviated plain-language text which appears in Item E). All NOTAM code groups contain a total of five letters and the first letter is always the letter Q. The second and third letters identify the subject. In this example, MR, indicates Runway (specific runway).
The fourth and fifth letters denote the condition of the subject being reported. In this example, LC, indicates Closed.
The ICAO NOTAM decode tables are found in Appendix B of Order 7930.2T, but again, the plain language associated with these codes is found in line E of the ICAO NOTAM.
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
The third element, traffic qualifier, relates the NOTAM to a type of traffic and allows retrieval according to the user’s needs. Depending on the NOTAM subject and content, the qualifier field TRAFFIC may contain the combined qualifiers. This example displays IV as the Traffic.
Type of Traffic:
I – Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)
V – Visual Flight Rules (VFR)
K – NOTAM is a Checklist
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
The fourth element, purpose, relates a NOTAM to certain purposes (intentions) and thus allows retrieval according to the user’s requirements. Depending on the NOTAM subject and content, the qualifier field PURPOSE may contain combined qualifiers. This example displays NBO as the Purpose.
Purpose description
N – selected for the immediate attention of aircraft operators
B – selected for pre-flight information briefing
O – concerning flight operations
M – not subject for briefing, but is available on request
K – is a Checklist
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
The fifth element, scope, is used to categorize NOTAMs. Depending on the NOTAM subject and content, the qualifier field SCOPE may contain combined qualifiers. This example uses A as the scope.
Scope Description
A – Aerodrome
E – Enroute
W – Navigation warning
K – Checklist
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
The sixth element is the lower and upper limits. The lower and upper limit field applies mainly to airspace related NOTAMs. Most aerodrome-related information, qualifier scope ‘A’, refers to ground installations for which the insertion of lower/upper limit is not relevant. Therefore, such NOTAMs must include the default values of 000/999.
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
The final element contain coordinates. The coordinates represent the coordinates of the point of influence, or the approximate center of a circle whose radius encompasses the whole area of influence. It is specified by an 11-character latitude and longitude. This example displays 4159N0875W as the coordinates.
Q)KZAU/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4159N0875W005
DOWNLOAD THE ICAO NOTAM FORMAT EXAMPLE HERE.
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Adding the qualifier line doesn’t improve the readability very much, just more codes to decipher. Why are NOTAMS still stuck in the 1950s? Modern technology could be used to make them much more readable.
I agree. Why ARE notamos still stuck in the Stone Age?? At least apps like ForeFlight decode them so they become readable. I thought when the US said they were gonna streamline them, we were going forward, when frankly, we are going backwards. ICAO be damned! At my age, I have ZERO desire to learn a new system and adapt to some lawmakers interpretation. Good grief. What a disaster.
I agree with Eric. Why can’t AI be used to translate NOTAMs to English?
YES! This bugs the heck out of me, especially when I have forgotten (or never knew) what some abbreviation means and have to look it up. Everything is on computer now. It’s not like we have a serious electron shortage. Just write everything out in plain English. NOTAMS, weather, et cetera.
How is this an improvement? We need plane english, graphical notams that we can act on. They should be interrupt driven, not tons of text to wade through. Still not moving in the right direction. The only hope I see here is that the coded sections should make translators in tools like Foreflight work consistently.
Having any type of ‘code deciphering’ requirement to read any Notam, Weather report, or anything else in aviation in 2024 is a constant reminder of the degree to which govt agencies around the globe are stuck in the time warp of the NDB age (magenta line babies, google NDB)
I’d venture to say the percentage of pilots in the U.S. not having a phone, tablet, or access to some type of online service at their airport would be less than 1%, which begs the question: If we’re reading weather reports from screens, versus teletype, why not use plain language?
Anything that makes them more accessible and QUICKLY comprehensible is welcome. And once the current administration and DEI-centric DOT head are gone, can we please change the name back to something that makes sense, like Notice to Airmen?
This will do nothing to enhance aviation safety. Making NOTAMS just a string of code that you need a decoder ring to read will just result in most of them being ignored, and aviation safety will suffer. In 10 years the FAA will convene another working group that will take another five years to figure out why pilots don’t have the information they need, when they need it. Maybe then, they will decide to write in plain English…..
The ICAO format is designed primarily to make it easier for computers to sort and parse the notices. As I wrote at my blog in 2021 (https://bruceair.wordpress.com/2021/10/28/icao-format-notams/), “The ICAO format is essentially a data structure, similar to an XML schema. In its raw form, an ICAO NOTAM is really intended to be processed by a computer, not read by a pilot…Pilots who use EFBs, brief via the web, or view NOTAMS on panel displays won’t typically see NOTAMS presented in the raw ICAO format. Instead, software developers will collect and display the information in the form that they think best for their customers.” The new structured format will also make it easier for providers to depict some NOTAMs graphically. For examples of how NOTAMs will typically be displayed for pilots, visit this ICAO website: https://www.icao.int/safety/istars/pages/notams.aspx.
Govt bureaucracy at it’s worst.
I think the only thing worse than the FAA NOTAMS is the FOI written test for CFIs. The last major improvement we had for NOTAMS is when they were put online and we didn’t have to read the yellow sheets in the FSS. Worthless.
So let’s just ignore the gibberish in the Q line, then the rest is sort of clear. Weird that the beginning and end dates come before the “what”, which is the meat if the whole NOTAM. And will it be distributed in nice, neat lines delineated by the Series code? That will make it much easier to skip from the “where” in the first line to the “what” in the last line.
They’ve gone and made it WORSE.
Clearly a bunch of pencil pushers who’ve never actually held the responsibility of flight.
BINGO
This format appears to be as arcane as previous NOTAMS. A major overhaul of the NOTAM System is desperately needed!
I’ll wait to see how this is implemented, especially in ForeFlight, but does ANYONE think this is an improvement over the NOTAM system we have now?
This is a great heads up, but I can’t find any other sources referring to the December 2024 timeline or even mention of conversion to ICAO format.
Sporty’s can’t be the only organization that know about this. Has anyone else found any supporting evidence?
Who makes the sh!t up?
This just as confusing if not more confusing with all everything coded with an immediate lack of meaning???????? Dale