Federal Aviation Administration 

National Part 139 CertAlert

**Advisory**Cautionary**Non-Directive**Advisory**Cautionary**Non-Directive**Advisory**Cautionary**Non-Directive**

No. 22-09

Date: December 1, 2022

To: All Title 14 CFR Part 139 Airport Operators

Subject: Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) Additional Emphasis and 

Procedure Awareness for Airport Operators

Point of Contact: Phillip Davenport, AAS-300, 202-267-7072

Email: Phillip.Davenport@faa.gov

1. Purpose. This CertAlert replaces CertAlerts 18-04 and 18-07 and reflects the recent updates

in Advisory Circular (AC) 150/5200-28, Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) for Airport

Operators, dated May 25, 2022.

2. Background. With the publication of AC 150/5200-28, portions of CertAlerts 18-04 and 18-

07 are now incorporated into the AC. Additionally, some information from the two

CertAlerts can also be found in AC 150/5200-30, Airport Field Condition Assessments and

Winter Operations Safety. The remaining relevant NOTAM information has been

consolidated into this CertAlert. This information is important to ensure airport operators

maintain focus in areas associated with airport condition reporting, publication of NOTAM

data in appropriate FAA publications and charts, and issuance of NOTAM information when

airports reach capacity for certain aircraft categories.

3. Action. Airport operators should include the following recommendations as part of their

regular NOTAM practices and information review to ensure the timeliness of NOTAM

production, distribution, and publication are in accordance with AC 150/5200-28, and to

determine if the information discussed in this CertAlert requires new or additional attention

or training at their facilities:

a. Time-critical NOTAM notification to appropriate ATC facilities. Airport operators

are required to coordinate the issuance/cancellation of NOTAMs with the air traffic

facility responsible for providing clearance to aircraft at their airport. This applies to both

towered and non-towered airports. The coordination may include an Air Route Traffic

Control Center (ARTCC), terminal radar approach control facility (TRACON), or the

airport’s air traffic control tower (ATCT).

Recommendations: Coordinate and ensure documentation of NOTAMs for runway

closures, snow removal operations, and any other lengthy maintenance activity at nontowered airports with the overlying air traffic control facility (TRACON or ARTCC)
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when the operation will begin in less than 60 minutes. It is imperative that air traffic 

facilities are notified in advance, when changes occur affecting the safe and expeditious 

movement of aircraft for a facility or surface area operated and maintained by the airport. 

Incidents and accidents have occurred when airports did not provide enough notice to air 

traffic facilities.

b. Work In Progress (WIP) NOTAMs. NOTAMs should be explicit, especially when

announcing the times snow removal operations occur.

Recommendations: Some suggested best practices for using WIP NOTAMs are:

 Only use the WIP NOTAM for issuing winter operations information when the

actual work is occurring or about to start.

 Close the runway via NOTAM during snow removal operations, especially at

non-towered airports.

 Do not use Prior Permission Required (PPR) with WIP NOTAMs. Only use PPR

during winter operations associated with closure NOTAMs.

 At non-towered airports, routinely monitor air traffic control frequencies when

possible for traffic awareness into/out of the airport and broadcast

location/activity updates over the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency when

airport operations or maintenance vehicles are operating in the movement areas.

 Conduct continuous monitoring for equipment location and update conditions via

NOTAMs to address changing conditions and runway status (closed or open) as

work proceeds. Update NOTAM even if conditions do not change. This practice

provides a time stamp of your continuous monitoring observation.

 Do not use the WIP format as a long-term (e.g., seasonal) NOTAM. For

taxiway/apron snow removal, WIP NOTAMs are routine, but they should only be

active while the activity is occurring. For long-term occupation of a

taxiway/apron area, a closure NOTAM is more appropriate.

c. Conditions Not Reported versus Conditions Not Monitored NOTAMs. We encourage

airport operators to use both of these NOTAM types, but operators should carefully

consider which is best suited for reporting field conditions at their airports. One NOTAM

type will use the key word “Aerodrome”, and the second NOTAM type may have a field

condition or an observation.

Recommendations: Apply the two types of NOTAMs as follows:

 Conditions Not Reported: When no surface condition reports will be made and no

current observation exists, issue a single NOTAM using the keyword

“Aerodrome” (AD) for the entire timeframe and the words “SFC COND NOT

REP”.

Example: !CWA CWA AD AP SFC COND NOT REP YYMMDD2200 –

YYMMDD0500. 
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The plain language translation of this example is: Central Wisconsin airport 

surface conditions are not being reported based on the year, month, date, and time 

submitted. 

 Conditions Not Monitored: When you cannot monitor the condition of the

movement areas or other airfield surfaces, issue a Conditions Not Monitored

NOTAM. Such NOTAMs are typically used because of staffing, operating hours,

or other mitigating factors associated with airport operations. When the field

conditions will not be monitored, follow the most recent observation with the

words “COND NOT MNT”, accompanied by the corresponding date/timeframe.

The timeframe during which conditions will not be monitored must fall within the

NOTAM “Start date UTC” and “End date UTC” times.

Example: !LGA LGA RWY 13 FICON 3/3/3 100 PRCT COMPACTED SNOW

OBSERVED AT YYMMDD2200. CONDITIONS NOT MNT 

YYMMDD2230-YYMMDD1000. 

The plain language translation of this example is: LaGuardia airport Runway 13 is 

the landing runway and has a Runway Condition Code of “3” in all thirds, and is 

100% covered by compacted snow. The field conditions are not monitored based 

on the year, month, date, and time submitted. 

 Do not use Conditions Not Reported or Conditions Not Monitored NOTAMs to

indicate normal operating hours. If the airport has published times in the Airport

Master Record/Chart Supplement when either scenario is in effect, then a

NOTAM is only necessary to reflect when either scenario is occurring outside of

the published timeframes.

d. Comprehensive airport status NOTAM information in aviation publications. Some

aircraft accidents have occurred that highlighted the importance of ensuring airport

operators publish the information for extended period NOTAMs (e.g., extended

temporary and permanently closed airports and runways, extended unavailability of

airport lighting or other powered airport infrastructure, impacts on pilot controlled

lighting, etc.) in the airport’s 5010 Master Record and Chart Supplement. Airport

operators should submit changes in airport status to the NOTAM system when they take

effect. The airport operator should ensure these changes are clearly stated in the Master

Record and Chart Supplement. Once the information is published in the Chart

Supplement, NOTAM information should be updated to reflect what has been published.

Recommendation: The publication of information usually starts with the Permanent

(PERM) NOTAM process. The airport operator can submit a PERM NOTAM, in

accordance with AC 150/5200-28, that will be allowed to remain active only until the

information is published in aviation master records and flight publications. Once it is

published, the airport operators should then cancel the PERM NOTAM, as PERM

NOTAMs will not auto expire.

e. NOTAM information when airports reach capacity for certain aircraft categories.

To address some concerns across the National Airspace System, airport operators should

recognize the need to better address design Group VI aircraft (Tail Height 66' - < 80'/
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Wingspan 214' - < 262') capacity at airports once the maximum allowable number is 

reached. 

Recommendation: Airport operators should issue a NOTAM when an airport is no 

longer capable of handling any design group aircraft (I-IV), except for emergency 

landings. The NOTAM alerting any new potential design group user to this airport 

condition change should be issued using the NOTAM example illustrated in paragraph 

2.3.14.1 of AC 150/5200-28

__

Birkely M. Rhodes, Manager 

Airports Safety and Operations Division, AAS-300