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Aviation vocabulary · Crew & Flight Planning

NOTAM

Meaning in aviation, with examples

/ˈnoʊtæm/abbreviationCommon term

In aviation, NOTAM means: An official notice for pilots and flight planners about temporary changes or hazards, such as a closed runway, a broken navigation aid or restricted airspace.

In Turkish: NOTAM, havacılara duyuru

How it is used

Said as one word: NO-tam. Pilots and dispatchers read the NOTAMs for the departure, route, destination and alternates before every flight. The name originally stood for 'Notice to Airmen'.

Example sentences

  1. According to the NOTAM, runway 18 is closed for maintenance until Friday.

  2. The briefing package had forty pages of NOTAMs, and only a few were relevant to us.

Common collocations

  • read the NOTAMs
  • NOTAM briefing
  • issue a NOTAM
  • check the NOTAMs
  • flight planThe official details of a planned flight sent to air traffic services before departure: route, levels, speed, aircraft type, fuel endurance and alternate airports.
  • runwayA long, specially prepared strip at an airport that aircraft use to take off and land. Each runway is named by a number based on its magnetic direction.
  • briefingA short meeting or explanation before a task, in which the crew shares information about the flight, the route, the weather, roles and possible risks.
  • ILSInstrument landing system: radio signals from the ground that guide an aircraft left-right and up-down to the runway, so it can land in low cloud and poor visibility.

More terms: Crew & Flight Planning

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