Definition
A NOTAM is an official, time-sensitive notice issued through the national airspace system to alert pilots and other aviation personnel about conditions, changes, or hazards affecting flight operations. NOTAMs cover items such as runway or taxiway closures, navigation aid outages, airspace restrictions, obstacles, GPS or ADS-B service interruptions, and temporary flight restrictions. They are distributed through official channels (FAA NOTAM system, flight service briefings, and aeronautical information sources) and form part of a pilot's required preflight information review.
Plain English
A NOTAM is a short official notice that tells pilots about something unusual or temporary they need to know before flying — like a closed runway, a broken navigation aid, or restricted airspace. Pilots are expected to check NOTAMs before every flight.
Context Anchor
Pilots encounter NOTAMs during preflight planning, in flight briefings, in flight planning apps, and sometimes on cockpit displays that receive aviation information through ADS-B.
Derivation
From the phrase 'Notice to Airmen,' coined when the system was first established for civil aviation. The U.S. has more recently adopted 'Notice to Air Missions' to make the term gender-neutral, but the acronym NOTAM is unchanged. Knowing it simply means 'notice' helps pilots treat it as exactly that — a formal heads-up, not a regulation or clearance.
Why Pilots Care
Pilots must review current NOTAMs before every flight to avoid closed runways, restricted airspace, or other conditions that could compromise safety.
Intuition Check
Do not treat a NOTAM as a casual announcement. In aviation, a NOTAM is an official notice that can directly affect whether a flight can be planned or flown safely.
Example Sentence 1
During preflight planning, the pilot reviewed NOTAMs and saw that the ILS at the destination airport was out of service, so she selected an alternate approach.
Example Sentence 2
A temporary NOTAM warned of military exercises that would close certain airspace during the afternoon.