What Is a NOTAM and What Types Should a Pilot Check Before Flight?

What Is a NOTAM?

A NOTAM, which stands for Notice to Air Missions, is an official notice that contains time-critical information about the establishment, condition, or change of any aeronautical facility, service, procedure, or hazard. The defining characteristic of a NOTAM is urgency: it covers information that arises too late or too irregularly to be published in standard aeronautical charts, the Airport/Facility Directory, or instrument approach plates. Think of NOTAMs as the aviation system's way of flagging everything that has changed since those documents were last printed.

On your checkride, your Designated Pilot Examiner will almost certainly ask you to explain what a NOTAM is and demonstrate that you checked them as part of your preflight planning. This is not a trick question, but it is one where a vague or incomplete answer raises immediate red flags about your airmanship and your understanding of regulatory requirements.

Why Checking NOTAMs Is a Legal Requirement, Not Just Good Practice

Many student pilots treat NOTAM review as optional background reading — something experienced pilots do out of habit. That mindset is both dangerous and legally incorrect. Under FAR 91.103, the pilot in command is required to become familiar with all available information concerning a flight before departing. The FAA explicitly includes NOTAMs in this requirement. Skipping them is not a judgment call; it is a regulatory violation before you even leave the ground.

This matters especially for VFR pilots who sometimes assume NOTAMs are only relevant to IFR operations or complex cross-countries. In reality, a NOTAM could be telling you that the runway at your destination is closed, that a taxiway light system is out of service, or that a temporary flight restriction has been placed directly over your planned route. None of those situations care whether you are flying VFR or IFR. Checking NOTAMs before every flight is a habit that protects your certificate, your passengers, and your aircraft.

FDC NOTAMs vs. Domestic NOTAMs: Know the Difference

For your oral exam, you need to understand that not all NOTAMs are created equal. The two primary types your examiner will expect you to distinguish are FDC NOTAMs and Domestic NOTAMs, and they serve very different purposes.

FDC NOTAMs — short for Flight Data Center NOTAMs — are issued by the National Flight Data Center and carry regulatory weight. They include amendments to instrument approach procedures, changes to published charts, and critically, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs). This last point trips up many checkride candidates. TFRs are not suggestions or courtesy notices — they are legally binding airspace restrictions issued under 14 CFR Parts 91 and 99, and they come to you through the FDC NOTAM system. Busting a TFR can result in certificate action, intercept by military aircraft, and serious legal consequences. If you do not check FDC NOTAMs, you have no reliable way of knowing a TFR exists until someone is already reacting to your violation.

Domestic NOTAMs, sometimes called D NOTAMs, focus on local and facility-specific hazards. These are the NOTAMs that tell you a runway is closed for construction, that a VOR is out of service, that approach lighting is inoperative, or that a new obstacle has been erected near an airport. They are geographically and operationally specific, and they are just as critical to a safe flight as any regulatory notice. A closed runway at a small single-runway airport is not a minor inconvenience — it may mean the airport is effectively unavailable to you.

How to Check NOTAMs and What to Tell Your Examiner

The most common way student pilots access NOTAMs is through a standard weather briefing from the FAA Safety Team (FAASafety.gov), 1800wxbrief.com, or ForeFlight and similar EFB applications. A standard briefing from an automated or human briefer will include relevant NOTAMs for your departure airport, en route facilities, and destination. When your examiner asks how you checked NOTAMs, be specific: name the source you used and explain what you were looking for.

During your oral, walk your examiner through the actual NOTAMs you found for your cross-country planning flight. If there were none of significance, say that clearly and explain what you would have been looking for. If you found a TFR, an inoperative navaid, or a closed taxiway, explain how it affected your planning. Demonstrating that you actually engaged with the information — rather than just clicking through a briefing screen — is what separates a confident pilot from a candidate who memorized definitions without understanding them.

• Check NOTAMs before every flight, including local pattern work
• Know that FDC NOTAMs carry regulatory authority and include TFRs
• Know that Domestic NOTAMs cover local hazards like closed runways and inoperative equipment
• Be able to cite FAR 91.103 as the regulatory basis for preflight NOTAM review
• Use a standard briefing source and be prepared to name it for your examiner

NOTAMs are one of those checkride topics that reward pilots who have built real preflight habits over those who crammed the night before. Your examiner is not just testing your ability to define an acronym — they are assessing whether you are the kind of pilot who actually uses this information to make sound decisions.

If you want to practice questions like this in a realistic oral exam format, try SimulatedCheckride.com.