NOTAM Camp 2024

Wrap-Up

NOTAM Camp 2024 is complete! For two months from March-May 2024, about 100 people across 25 airlines came together to work on the Notam Problem. We took the prototype designed during the Notam Sprint, and set to work on implementing this inside the airline OCC.

We made significant progress during the collaborative workshop. Read about the work done below. More work is needed to finalize a real-world, fully working version of SuperNotams. We will resume the project after a short break for air!

SuperNotams – achievements during NOTAM Camp 2024

Key advancements

• We developed the prototype from the Sprint into a live, working model. The code was written in the Laravel framework for PHP.
• We decided to initially reframe the SuperNOTAM briefing as an add-on to the original briefing, as opposed to a replacement. This would allow quicker regulatory approval and peer approval. So SuperNOTAMs would still run through all the same AI interpretation, tagging, and summarizing, but instead of replacing the existing package, we present a short, simple, add-on PDF to flight crew, to help interpret the full briefing.
• We developed the Dark Notams concept further, to split Notams into two parts: Critical Notams and Dark Notams in an Appendix – available if required, but not presented in the primary package.
• We finalized the initial design of the briefing package – see above for the sample (Download PDF here)
• We split the “Create a Brief” process into two parts: The Notam App and the Notam Store.
• The Notam Store runs in the background, and tags new Notams as they come in.
• The Notam App is run at briefing time, and collects tagged Notams from the Notam Store.
• The next steps would involve: integrating the Notam App into the Flight Planning system, and iterating the App, AI and tagging process further.
• We will resume work on this after a break.

About NOTAM Camp 2024 (now complete)

For 60 years, NOTAMs have been a pain for pilots. The industry has tried many times to fix them. All efforts have ultimately failed. The NOTAM system today is worse than ever. In 2022, the total number issued exceeded 2 million for the first time. Briefing lists routinely exceed 100 pages. Crews regularly miss critical information.

Our “Fixing NOTAMs” group (led by OPSGROUP) has been actively working on a solution since 2018. A history of our efforts is here. A timeline is further down in this document. We have worked directly with ICAO, the FAA, IFALPA, and hundreds of individual pilots and dispatchers. In May of 2023, we ran a “Sprint Week” to create a working prototype that solves the problem. 300 people took part. It worked.

The outcome of the Sprint Week was a protoype briefing system that automatically creates a briefing PDF, with critical NOTAMs first, and simple English summaries. We start with a list of NOTAMs for the flight. AI is then used to apply a pre-determined tag to each one (like “Runway Closed”). An adjustable set of rules decides the order of NOTAMs for key airports, alternates, and enroute airspace. A Briefing PDF is then created, putting the critical stuff at the stop. Dark NOTAMS – everything that isn’t critical or useful – are sent to an Appendix. We call this whole process SuperNOTAMs.

NOTAM Camp 2024

In February 2024, we launch “NOTAM Camp 2024“. This is an airline trial of the prototype, where 20 airlines will develop the prototype into a working model in the real world. For eight weeks, we will work together to bring this to life.

Participating airlines, confirmed:

Aerologic, Air Atlanta Icelandic, Air Canada, Air France, Air New Zealand, Air Tanker, Atlas Air, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, DHL (Tasman Cargo), Fedex, Hawaiian Airlines, Scoot, Silkway West, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Transavia France, UPS, United Airlines, and Virgin Australia.

Why airlines first?

Airlines tend to have the most control over the NOTAM package that gets produced for their pilots. Equally, airlines and their crews feel the pain of oversized briefing packages more than most. Airlines have in-house expertise. Airlines also carry a certain weight – if a handful of well known operators can implement this and make it work, the industry will follow.

Who owns the thing that gets built?

Everyone, and no-one. This is an industry collaboration to solve a sixty-year-old problem, for the benefit of all. The aim of the NOTAM Alliance is to create a blueprint that anyone can use and adapt to their operation. Ultimately, we want pilots and dispatchers to have a vastly improved NOTAM mechanism.