9.5 NOTAMs, the AIP and Chart Currency

What a NOTAM Is

A NOTAM (Notice to Airmen — now formally Notice to Air Missions) is a temporary notice issued to alert pilots to changes or hazards that are not yet reflected on charts or in the AIP. NOTAMs cover a wide range of short-notice information, including:

• Airspace activations — restricted areas being activated for a specific period.
• Obstructions — new temporary towers, cranes, or obstacles near an aerodrome or flight path.
• Aerodrome changes — runway closures, lighting outages, works in progress.
• Events — air displays, flypasts, sporting events with temporary airspace.
• Hazards — bird activity, laser illumination, drone-related reports.

For an RPA pilot, the NOTAM check is what tells you whether a charted restricted area is actually active at your flight time, and whether a temporary obstruction has appeared that is not on your chart yet.

How to Read a NOTAM

A NOTAM is a structured text message with a fixed format. The key fields an RPA pilot should be able to read are:

• NOTAM series and serial number — identifies the notice (for example, A1234/26).
• FIR or aerodrome qualifier — the location or flight information region the NOTAM applies to.
• From/To dates and times — the validity window, in UTC. Always convert UTC to local time before comparing with your planned flight; getting the conversion wrong is a common cause of flying through an active NOTAM.
• Scope — which operations the NOTAM affects (A for aerodrome, E for en-route, W for navigation warning, etc.).
• Text — the free-text description of the change or hazard, including identifiers, altitudes, and conditions.

When reading a NOTAM, capture four things: the identifier or location it applies to, the validity window in local time, the vertical limits (some NOTAMs specify a lower and upper altitude), and the nature of the change. Record the NOTAM serial number in your pre-flight plan so the check is auditable.

Why Check NOTAMs Before Every Flight

NOTAMs are time-critical. A chart that was current yesterday cannot tell you that a crane has just gone up next to your operating site, or that a restricted area has been activated for the next two hours. Checking NOTAMs before every flight is a standard part of pre-flight planning, not an occasional formality. A flight that was legal yesterday may be inside an active restricted area today because a NOTAM was issued overnight.

The NAIPS Briefing Workflow

The primary portal in Australia is NAIPS (the Airservices National Aeronautical Information Processing System), accessible through Airservices Australia and linked from CASA. A pre-flight NAIPS briefing is the structured way to obtain NOTAMs for your flight. A typical workflow:

1. Log in to NAIPS and select a briefing request (area, aerodrome, or route briefing).
2. Define the area — either by aerodrome identifier, by a radius around a point, or by a route. For RPA operations, a radius around the launch point is usually most appropriate.
3. Set the radius wide enough to capture nearby airspace and obstacles — 10 NM is a useful default for local RPA work; increase it for operations near controlled aerodromes or restricted areas.
4. Set the time window to cover the planned flight plus margin either side (at least 30 minutes before and after).
5. Generate the briefing and read every returned NOTAM, noting any that mention identifiers, obstacles, or airspace within your radius.
6. Record serial numbers of relevant NOTAMs in your pre-flight plan.

NAIPS also returns AIP supplements and supplements to the AIP (AIP SUP) in the same briefing, which cover longer-duration temporary changes such as major aerodrome works or airspace triads.

Habit: a flight is not fully planned until the NOTAM check is complete and any relevant NOTAMs have been read, understood, and factored into the go/no-go decision.

The AIP — Aeronautical Information Publication

The AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) is the baseline reference for Australian aviation information. It documents airspace structure, procedures, charting conventions, and regulatory material that is relatively stable. NOTAMs amend the AIP temporarily; charts depict a snapshot of AIP information at their edition date.

AIP Structure and Supplement

The AIP is organised into logical parts that an RePL holder should be aware of:

• GEN (General) — rules, units, abbreviations, and chart conventions.
• ENR (En Route) — airspace structure, navigation, and procedures relevant to transit, including the airspace-class descriptions relied on in Section 6.2.
• AD (Aerodromes) — aerodrome-specific information, including runway details, lighting, and traffic procedures.
• AIP Supplements (AIP SUP) — temporary changes of longer duration than a NOTAM, such as extended aerodrome works or airspace redesigns on a trial basis. AIP SUP are published alongside NOTAMs in a NAIPS briefing.

For an RePL holder, the AIP is the reference to turn to when you need the authoritative explanation of a charted symbol, an airspace procedure, or the detailed rules behind a standard operating condition. It is not something most pilots memorise — it is a reference you consult when a chart or a NOTAM raises a question.

Chart Currency

Every VTC and VNC carries an edition date. Airservices Australia publishes new editions on a regular cycle, and airspace, obstacles, and procedures change between editions. The rules for chart currency are straightforward:

• Always use the current edition for flight planning.
• Do not use superseded editions — even if they look similar, boundaries, CTA steps, obstacles, and restricted-area details may have changed.
• Check the edition date before you plan, not after.

A chart that is out of date can mislead you into operating inside controlled airspace, an active restricted area, or near an obstacle that has been added or removed since the edition date.

Integrated Pre-flight Airspace-Check Checklist

Bringing NOTAMs, the AIP, and chart currency together, a disciplined RPA pre-flight workflow follows a single checklist:

1. Confirm the current chart edition for the operating area (VTC if near a terminal area, VNC otherwise). Verify the edition date against the Airservices current-edition list.
2. Plot the operating point and altitude on the chart and identify the airspace class, any CTR, CTA steps, restricted/danger/prohibited areas, and charted obstacles.
3. Resolve the CTR question first — is the point inside a surface-level Control Zone? If yes, the flight is a controlled-airspace operation requiring clearance.
4. Resolve the 5.5 km / 3 NM buffer to any controlled aerodrome reference point.
5. Resolve CTA step bases — convert each relevant step base to AGL using the highest charted terrain under the flight, and confirm the planned RPA height stays below it.
6. Resolve restricted areas — list identifiers over and near the site; note their tiers and any charted activation conditions.
7. Run a NAIPS NOTAM briefing covering the operating area and a sensible radius, for the planned time window plus margin. Read every returned NOTAM.
8. Cross-check each NOTAM against the chart: does it activate a restricted area on your site, add a temporary obstacle (crane, tower), close airspace, or change a procedure? Convert NOTAM UTC times to local.
9. Check for AIP SUP in the same briefing — longer-duration changes may affect your operating area.
10. Consult the AIP where any charted detail or NOTAM is unclear — the AIP is the authoritative reference for the underlying rule.
11. Record the results — chart edition, NOTAM serials read, airspace class, CTR/CTA/restricted-area status — so the pre-flight reasoning is auditable.
12. Make the go/no-go decision with all inputs current.

Key habit: a current chart, a NOTAM check, and the AIP as back-up reference are three legs of the same stool. Skip any one and your pre-flight planning is incomplete.