WIP NOTAM

[Joshuajayg]

Over a year ago I flew over an airport that has a NOTAM out for work in progress on the only runway. I saw some guys in white suits on the tarmac and a truck in the grass beside the runway. After I flew over at 500 feet, the workers moved off the runway. I couldn't reach anyone on UNICOM.

I didn't land as it didn't seem safe and I was unsure to what extent the NOTAM was trying to warn pilots.

Does a WIP (work in progress) NOTAM mean the runway is closed? It did not specifically say it was closed and there were no markings on the runway to indicate it was closed.

 

[Zeldman]

No. If the runway is closed it will be noted in the notams, and the runway will (should, anyway) be marked properly.

The WIP should have included type of work, something like cutting grass outside the lights, or cleaning up the runway, along those lines.

I landed in Haines yesterday with a local unpublished notam of "workers may be removing dirt from runway, plan on landing long."

People in white suits probably means someone came in hot, landed, then could not hold it long enough to taxi to parking and go into the FBO. Instead they stopped on the runway and dropped a tarmac right there.....

 

[Joshuajayg]

I didn't recognize any work being explained in the NOTAM but my memory may just be failing me looked like spraying for weeds in the cracks of the asphalt.

 

[kgruber]

The way the new NOTAM system works, an airport manager cannot file a NOTAM that actually means what it says.

There are only canned NOTAMS , and one has to use to closest fit. For instance, the Forest Service staged their helicopters on our turf runway, and I wanted to NOTAM it closed. There was no way to do that, because that runway does not officially exist, even though it gets frequently used.

For funding, we need to call it a "dust abatement zone." The FSS wanted to try and call it 10L/28R.........and was able to file it that way. But called the next day because it didn't fit their canned notices.

So what you see, is probably not what is actually get. No LIe!