Focus on Competition - 2010/09

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, is being 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. Being 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 aviationrelated
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
info office two days ahead of the
restriction time, so getting the info out has
to be done immediately.
We will 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 info on the AMA Web
site 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 rules making process that has received
much press lately within our ranks.
It’s all a 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 Omni
directional Radio beacon 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