NOTAMs and preflight information

What a NOTAM is, how to read its coded format, and the 91.103 obligation to check it before every flight.

11 min read · Weather

After this lesson you can

  • Explain what a NOTAM is and why it exists separately from charts and the Chart Supplement.
  • Identify the four NOTAM categories and decode a NOTAM(D) using its required keyword.
  • Decode the elements and time format of a real NOTAM.
  • State the 14 CFR 91.103 obligation and how NOTAMs fit into satisfying it.

Charts and the Chart Supplement are printed on a fixed cycle, but the real world does not wait for the next printing: a runway closes for repaving, a NAVAID goes out of service, a temporary tower rises next to an approach path. NOTAMs are the system built to fill that gap, and reading them correctly, on every flight, is not optional guidance, it is a specific regulatory obligation.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.What a NOTAM is, and why it exists
  2. 2.The four NOTAM categories
  3. 3.Reading a NOTAM (D)
  4. 4.NOTAM composition and timing
  5. 5.Where NOTAMs are published
  6. 6.The 91.103 obligation

These 6 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the PPL track. Paid once, yours for good.

See what the PPL track costsEvery module 1 is free to read, no account, no card.

Key terms

Try to recall each definition before turning the card.