a. Every pilot is urged to receive a preflight briefing and to file a flight plan. This briefing should consist of the latest or most current weather, airport, and en route NAVAID information. Briefing service may be obtained from an FSS either by telephone or interphone, by radio when airborne, or by a personal visit to the station. Pilots with a current medical certificate in the 48 contiguous States may access toll-free the Direct User Access Terminal System (DUATS) through a personal computer. DUATS will provide alpha-numeric preflight weather data and allow pilots to file domestic VFR or IFR flight plans.

REFERENCE-
AIM, FAA Weather Services, Paragraph 7-1-2, Lists DUATS Vendors.

NOTE-
Pilots filing flight plans via "fast file" who desire to have their briefing recorded, should include a statement at the end of the recording as to the source of their weather briefing.

b. The information required by the FAA to process flight plans is contained on FAA Form 7233-1, Flight Plan. The forms are available at all flight service stations. Additional copies will be provided on request.

REFERENCE-
AIM, Flight Plan- VFR Flights, Paragraph 5-1-4.
AIM, Flight Plan- IFR Flights, Paragraph 5-1-7.

c. Consult an FSS or a Weather Service Office (WSO) for preflight weather briefing. Supplemental Weather Service Locations (SWSL's) do not provide weather briefings.

d. FSS's are required to advise of pertinent NOTAM's if a standard briefing is requested, but if they are overlooked, don't hesitate to remind the specialist that you have not received NOTAM information.

NOTE-
NOTAM's which are known in sufficient time for publication and are of 7 days duration or longer are normally incorporated into the Notices to Airmen Publication and carried there until cancellation time. FDC NOTAM's, which apply to instrument flight procedures, are also included in the Notices to Airmen Publication up to and including the number indicated in the FDC NOTAM legend. Printed NOTAM's are not provided during a briefing unless specifically requested by the pilot since the FSS specialist has no way of knowing whether the pilot has already checked the Notices to Airmen Publication prior to calling. Remember to ask for NOTAM's in the Notices to Airmen Publication. This information is not normally furnished during your briefing.

REFERENCE-
AIM, Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) System, Paragraph 5-1-3.

e. Pilots are urged to use only the latest issue of aeronautical charts in planning and conducting flight operations. Aeronautical charts are revised and reissued on a regular scheduled basis to ensure that depicted data are current and reliable. In the conterminous U.S., Sectional Charts are updated every 6 months, IFR En Route Charts every 56 days, and amendments to civil IFR Approach Charts are accomplished on a 56-day cycle with a change notice volume issued on the 28-day midcycle. Charts that have been superseded by those of a more recent date may contain obsolete or incomplete flight information.

REFERENCE-
AIM, General Description of Each Chart Series, Paragraph 9-1-4.

f. When requesting a preflight briefing, identify yourself as a pilot and provide the following:

1. Type of flight planned; e.g., VFR or IFR.

2. Aircraft's number or pilot's name.

3. Aircraft type.

4. Departure Airport.

5. Route of flight.

6. Destination.

7. Flight altitude(s).

8. ETD and ETE.

g. Prior to conducting a briefing, briefers are required to have the background information listed above so that they may tailor the briefing to the needs of the proposed flight. The objective is to communicate a "picture" of meteorological and aeronautical information necessary for the conduct of a safe and efficient flight. Briefers use all available weather and aeronautical information to summarize data applicable to the proposed flight. They do not read weather reports and forecasts verbatim unless specifically requested by the pilot.

REFERENCE-
AIM, Preflight Briefings, Paragraph 7-1-3, contains those items of a weather briefing that should be expected or requested.

h. FAA by 14 CFR Part 93, Subpart K, has designated High Density Traffic Airports (HDTA's) and has prescribed air traffic rules and requirements for operating aircraft (excluding helicopter operations) to and from these airports.

a. To maintain IFR proficiency, pilots are urged to practice IFR procedures whenever possible, even when operating VFR. Some suggested practices include:

1. Obtain a complete preflight and weather briefing. Check the NOTAM's.

2. File a flight plan. This is an excellent low cost insurance policy. The cost is the time it takes to fill it out. The insurance includes the knowledge that someone will be looking for you if you become overdue at your destination.

3. Use current charts.

4. Use the navigation aids. Practice maintaining a good course-keep the needle centered.

5. Maintain a constant altitude which is appropriate for the direction of flight.

6. Estimate en route position times.

7. Make accurate and frequent position reports to the FSS's along your route of flight.

a. Time-critical aeronautical information which is of either a temporary nature or not sufficiently known in advance to permit publication on aeronautical charts or in other operational publications receives immediate dissemination via the National NOTAM System.

NOTE-
1. NOTAM information is that aeronautical information that could affect a pilot's decision to make a flight. It includes such information as airport or primary runway closures, changes in the status of navigational aids, ILS's, radar service availability, and other information essential to planned en route, terminal, or landing operations.

2. NOTAM information is transmitted using standard contractions to reduce transmission time. See TBL 5-1-1 for a listing of the most commonly used contractions.

b. NOTAM information is classified into three categories. These are NOTAM (D) or distant, NOTAM (L) or local, and Flight Data Center (FDC) NOTAM's.

1. NOTAM (D) information is disseminated for all navigational facilities that are part of the National Airspace System (NAS), all public use airports, seaplane bases, and heliports listed in the Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD). The complete file of all NOTAM (D) information is maintained in a computer database at the Weather Message Switching Center (WMSC), located in Atlanta, Georgia. This category of information is distributed automatically via Service A telecommunications system. Air traffic facilities, primarily FSS's, with Service A capability have access to the entire WMSC database of NOTAM's. These NOTAM's remain available via Service A for the duration of their validity or until published. Once published, the NOTAM data is deleted from the system.

2. NOTAM (L)

(a) NOTAM (L) information includes such data as taxiway closures, personnel and equipment near or crossing runways, airport rotating beacon outages and airport lighting aids that do not affect instrument approach criteria, such as VASI.

(b) NOTAM (L) information is distributed locally only and is not attached to the hourly weather reports. A separate file of local NOTAM's is maintained at each FSS for facilities in their area only. NOTAM (L) information for other FSS areas must be specifically requested directly from the FSS that has responsibility for the airport concerned.

3. FDC NOTAM's

(a) On those occasions when it becomes necessary to disseminate information which is regulatory in nature, the National Flight Data Center (NFDC), in Washington, DC, will issue an FDC NOTAM. FDC NOTAM's contain such things as amendments to published IAP's and other current aeronautical charts. They are also used to advertise temporary flight restrictions caused by such things as natural disasters or large-scale public events that may generate a congestion of air traffic over a site.

(b) FDC NOTAM's are transmitted via Service A only once and are kept on file at the FSS until published or canceled. FSS's are responsible for maintaining a file of current, unpublished FDC NOTAM's concerning conditions within 400 miles of their facilities. FDC information concerning conditions that are more than 400 miles from the FSS, or that is already published, is given to a pilot only on request.

NOTE-
1. DUATS vendors will provide FDC NOTAM's only upon site-specific requests using a location identifier.

2. NOTAM data may not always be current due to the changeable nature of national airspace system components, delays inherent in processing information, and occasional temporary outages of the U.S. NOTAM system. While en route, pilots should contact FSS's and obtain updated information for their route of flight and destination.

c. An integral part of the NOTAM System is the Notices to Airmen Publication (NTAP) published every four weeks. Data is included in this publication to reduce congestion on the telecommunications circuits and, therefore, is not available via Service A. Once published, the information is not provided during pilot weather briefings unless specifically requested by the pilot. This publication contains two sections.

1. The first section consists of notices that meet the criteria for NOTAM (D) and are expected to remain in effect for an extended period and FDC NOTAM's that are current at the time of publication. Occasionally, some NOTAM (L) and other unique information is included in this section when it will contribute to flight safety.

2. The second section contains special notices that are either too long or concern a wide or unspecified geographic area and are not suitable for inclusion in the first section. The content of these notices vary widely and there are no specific criteria for their inclusion, other than their enhancement of flight safety.

3. The number of the last FDC NOTAM included in the publication is noted on the first page to aid the user in updating the listing with any FDC NOTAM's which may have been issued between the cut-off date and the date the publication is received. All information contained will be carried until the information expires, is canceled, or in the case of permanent conditions, is published in other publications, such as the A/FD.

4. All new notices entered, excluding FDC NOTAM's, will be published only if the information is expected to remain in effect for at least 7 days after the effective date of the publication.

d. NOTAM information is not available from a Supplemental Weather Service Locations (SWSL).

TBL 5-1-1