by Phillip Tate, Aeronautical Information Operations Specialist, NAV CANADA
It’s a beautiful day for visual flight rules (VFR) flying. You’ve carefully checked the weather and reviewed the NOTAM for the applicable aerodromes without seeing any concerns. You don’t bother to look at the flight information region (FIR) NOTAM because there are so many, and they never seem applicable to your flights. After departing, about halfway through your flight, something catches your eye, and you see people jumping from an airplane above you. They are no more than a mile away and it feels uncomfortably close as you watch them parachute to the ground. You decide to query a nearby flight service station and are advised that you were in the middle of an active parachuting activity. How could this have happened?
NOTAMs published under an aerodrome normally contain information regarding situations affecting only that particular aerodrome’s operations. Examples would be NOTAMs regarding runway closures or fuel availability. However, NOTAMs published under the FIR pertain to everything else and can affect both VFR and IFR traffic. Some examples are Transport Canada (TC) airspace restrictions, airshow activities, blasting operations, remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) operations, parachuting or gliding activities, and activation of exercise or training areas. NOTAMs on these subjects are only published under the FIR identifier, even if they occur at or in the vicinity of an aerodrome. Although an aerodrome reference is included in the NOTAM text, this is only to help the reader understand where the activity is occurring (as this is easier to visualize than a set of coordinates).
Canada FIR Identifiers Map - Text version
Vancouver FIR – CZVR
Edmonton FIR – CZEG
Winnipeg FIR – CZWG
Toronto FIR – CZYZ
Montreal FIR – CZUL
Moncton FIR – CZQM
Gander FIR – CZQX
The mention of an aerodrome in these NOTAMs is not meant to identify the affected aerodrome(s), especially if the activity covers a large area and multiple aerodromes are in the vicinity of the activity described in the NOTAM. Typically, the aerodrome closest to the event is used as a reference. Therefore, a NOTAM search should include searching for NOTAMs issued under the applicable FIR identifiers to ensure crucial information regarding your flight is retrieved.
To help with this, some flight planning tools may take advantage of the geographic reference feature by searching for NOTAMs within a specified radius from a designated route. This is sometimes called a “route radius,” where a user defined distance around the specified flight route is searched for all NOTAMs affecting the flight. This will help to ensure that only applicable FIR NOTAMs are included in the search results. Other tools may have the default selection to only show aerodrome NOTAMs and so a selection must be made to ensure FIR NOTAMs are shown as well.
Regardless of how NOTAMs are retrieved, it is important to review those NOTAMs published under the applicable FIR identifier as well as those NOTAMs published under the aerodromes of interest to ensure that you have reviewed all applicable NOTAMs. By doing so, you will be doing your part in keeping the skies safe.