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Ross Magnaldo
October 6th 03, 01:12 AM
Filed and flew IFR flight plan from CNC3 to CNY3.
Checked the notams that the NAVCANADA website called up for the route and
everything seemed fine. Checked with FSS - no additional notams

Only once up in the air did ATC advise me of a NOTAM indicating VOR YEE U/S.

The problem is that without an IFR GPS the only approach is from the YEE
VOR. Returned to base :-(((

Got some good IMC anyway.

Ross

David Megginson
October 6th 03, 02:53 AM
"Ross Magnaldo" > writes:

> Filed and flew IFR flight plan from CNC3 to CNY3.
> Checked the notams that the NAVCANADA website called up for the route and
> everything seemed fine. Checked with FSS - no additional notams
>
> Only once up in the air did ATC advise me of a NOTAM indicating VOR YEE U/S.
>
> The problem is that without an IFR GPS the only approach is from the YEE
> VOR. Returned to base :-(((
>
> Got some good IMC anyway.

That's an interesting flight report -- thanks. Was the NOTAM not in
the CZYZ FIR NOTAM file initially because of an unscheduled,
last-second outage?


All the best,


David

Ross Magnaldo
October 6th 03, 03:30 AM
I don't know if it was a last minute unscheduled outage but it is still not
in the CZYZ file. The only way I've found it is to get the notams for CYEE.

Cheers,
Ross
"David Megginson" > wrote in message
...
> "Ross Magnaldo" > writes:
>
> > Filed and flew IFR flight plan from CNC3 to CNY3.
> > Checked the notams that the NAVCANADA website called up for the route
and
> > everything seemed fine. Checked with FSS - no additional notams
> >
> > Only once up in the air did ATC advise me of a NOTAM indicating VOR YEE
U/S.
> >
> > The problem is that without an IFR GPS the only approach is from the YEE
> > VOR. Returned to base :-(((
> >
> > Got some good IMC anyway.
>
> That's an interesting flight report -- thanks. Was the NOTAM not in
> the CZYZ FIR NOTAM file initially because of an unscheduled,
> last-second outage?
>
>
> All the best,
>
>
> David

David Megginson
October 6th 03, 02:05 PM
"Ross Magnaldo" > writes:

> I don't know if it was a last minute unscheduled outage but it is
> still not in the CZYZ file. The only way I've found it is to get
> the notams for CYEE.

Right, I see that too -- it's NOTAM'd U/S until 16z today. I suggest
that you call the London FIC at (866) 541-4104 to report that the
outage is missing from the CZYZ file. Several Victor airways go
through YEE, and poor schmucks like you and me (who still actually
tune in VORs) still need to know about outages like that for enroute
planning.


All the best,


David

Ross Magnaldo
October 10th 03, 11:46 PM
A quick update on this issue with Nav Canada:

Their first reply:
"From my review of your feedback regarding the provision of NOTAM's I
believe I have some information that you might find helpful.
As you may know, NOTAM's for navaids are separated into two main files,
those considered "enroute' navaids and those affiliated with an aerodrome.
A list of "enroute" navaids is provided on page D3 of the CFS, and the
NOTAM's for navaids at these sites are usually published under the FIR in
which they lie and found through the "NOTAM, Flight Information Region
(FIR)" link on our site. The remaining navaids are generally listed
according to the NOTAM file identified in the "Aerodrome/Facility Directory"
section of the CFS. These navaids are usually affiliated with only one
particular aerodrome e.g. Midland VOR with Midland Airport. A helpful means
of determining this is referring to the "NAV" box of the aerodrome listing.
Any navaid listed there is considered "affiliated" with that particular
airport and therefore NOTAM'd as such.
When using our web site "Route Data" page, when you classify the flight as
IFR, you will only receive "NOTAM, aerodrome" information for the airport
idents (ID) you have actually listed in the Departure, Enroute and
Destination boxes. Only If you list "Midland" as an enroute airport would
you receive the NOTAM's for the airport and the affiliated navaid - the
Midland VOR (YEE). Another option, is if you select "VFR" as your type of
flight, you would have been able to access all the NOTAM's for the area
within a 50nm swath either side of your route, under the Aerodrome, or FIR,
NOTAM's."

Mine:
"Thank you for clearly describing the two different categories the navaids
fall into when it comes to issuing NOTAM's on your website. From now
onwards I'll have to select a "VFR" flight when requesting the NOTAM's and
browse through the entire list to find out which ones are applicable.
Are the explanations you provided me with listed anywhere on you website? I
wonder how many other pilots have requested IFR NOTAM's and not obtained the
full list they were expecting without knowing the limits of the system. I
also strongly believe that a future version of you NOTAM software should
also include links to approach navaids for each airport."

Their most recent response:
"The AWWS Users Guide and the "Tips" section at the top right corner of the
NOTAM menu page contain an explanation on retrieving NOTAM. If you feel
that this explanation could be improved, were open to suggestions.
Similarly with the way that the NOTAM retrieval process is designed.
I feel were in a Catch 22 situation because IFR drivers do not want to see
multiple pages of NOTAM for every little grass strip between their point of
departure and their destination. The difficulty, as you have encountered,
is that the user has to appreciate certain subtleties with regard to the way
that NOTAM files are organized if he/she is doing an IFR look-up."

Bottom line - it's safer to wade through the VFR NOTAMs.

Ross

"Ross Magnaldo" > wrote in message
le.rogers.com...
> Filed and flew IFR flight plan from CNC3 to CNY3.
> Checked the notams that the NAVCANADA website called up for the route and
> everything seemed fine. Checked with FSS - no additional notams
>
> Only once up in the air did ATC advise me of a NOTAM indicating VOR YEE
U/S.
>
> The problem is that without an IFR GPS the only approach is from the YEE
> VOR. Returned to base :-(((
>
> Got some good IMC anyway.
>
> Ross
>
>

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