Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20; Flight Crew Total 2500; Flight Crew Type 2000
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Chart Or Publication; Weather
Yet again the center of the country was hit with a significant weather event that left many airports covered with snow and ice. And yet again many of these smaller airfields had no NOTAMs to indicate the airport was closed or unsafe. Given the absence of a NOTAM the pilot planning a flight has no way to distinguish between an airport that is closed/unsafe and just not reporting against an airport that is open with no adverse conditions. Calling the airport remains the only way to be sure of the conditions; and then only during staffed business hours. Pilots planning or departing on flights outside these hours have no way to know if the destination is safe. An unknowing pilot might plan a flight with fuel reserves based on the expected interpretation that no NOTAMs means the field is open. The pilot could quite likely end up in a fuel starvation event when they find every airport within remaining fuel range of the intended destination is similarly closed from one of these storms.I ended up selecting a larger airport that was reporting conditions. But as I flew over many of the smaller airports I was able to confirm the majority of those airports were closed or had adverse conditions yet the NOTAM system was not reporting any of these facts.
GA pilot reported during last snow and ice event in the Midwest many smaller airports were not listed as closed on the NOTAM list even though flying over many he confirmed they were indeed closed. The pilot reported selecting a larger airport that was reporting conditions.