Focus on Competition
Technically Speaking ...
Greg Hahn Technical Director [email protected]
DEALING WITH FAA NOTAMS: If you don't know already, we have a new temporary restriction to deal with pertaining to our model flying fields. Since January, our beloved hobby — for the first time — has been affected by VIP (Very Important Person) movements in and around the contiguous United States. Most of these have to do with the Presidential entourage as it moves from city to city for visits and functions.
These temporary restrictions are announced in the form of an FAA NOTAM, or Notice to Airmen. As a full‑scale pilot, you are made aware of these right from the get‑go because they restrict your freedom as a pilot and must be adhered to religiously, or consequences could be waiting. Often, breaking restricted airspace can lead to being escorted to the nearest airport by a pair of F‑16s, followed closely by answering many questions or worse.
I'm not saying that these consequences are destined for us, but you should know that the FAA and Homeland Security take NOTAMs seriously and we should also. Realize, too, that we aren't being singled out on this, because nearly every aviation‑related activity — including free ballooning, skydiving, and so on — is also prohibited in the restriction.
Here at HQ, we have developed a procedure to get the pertinent information out to our affected members and clubs in as timely a manner as possible, and sometimes that can be a challenge. Normally the NOTAMs are sent to Rich Hanson and me directly from the FAA information office two days ahead of the restriction time, so getting the info out has to be done immediately.
We take the latitude and longitude from the NOTAM and plug them into a formula we developed to query our AMA database for the clubs and members affected in that specific area. We prepare the appropriate statements and links to the FAA and post this information on the AMA website and also send push e‑mails to the district VP, district AVPs, club presidents, and on down to the members. We're trying to accomplish enough overlap so that few, if any, do not have access to the information needed.
So far the membership response we've received from our efforts has been very positive, and we hope you understand that as users of the airspace, we now are recognized as a pertinent player, which is a good thing. This also plays along with our being recognized as an integral part of the FAA rule‑making process that has received much press lately within our ranks.
It's all part of staying ahead of the game and abreast of issues, presenting ourselves (modelers) as responsible users of the airspace, and making safety our first priority.
To clear up many questions, I'll include a list of the most used acronyms and abbreviations that you see in the e‑mail notices we send out to you.
- TFR: Temporary Flight Restriction
- FAA: Federal Aviation Administration
- NOTAM: Notices to Airmen (that includes model airmen)
- VORTAC: Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range with TACAN
- ATC: Air Traffic Control
- FDC: Federal Document Center
- EST: Eastern Standard Time
- CST: Central Standard Time
- MST: Mountain Standard Time
- PST: Pacific Standard Time
If you have other questions or would like to know more, feel free to e‑mail me with them.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
