Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50; Flight Crew Total 240.3; Flight Crew Type 230
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Human Factors; Chart Or Publication
After I was cleared for the ILS 24 approach into HQM; the Controller on frequency asked me 'Do you have the NOTAMs for the ILS approach into HQM?' I replied 'negative.' As soon as he asked me this question; I realized that my preflight briefing was not done in a thorough enough manner; because if I had; I would have received this NOTAM. I could tell the Controller was not too happy about this; as he canceled my approach clearance and told me to maintain 4;000 FT. I was coming up on ULESS; the IAF; which also involved a course change. I asked him if he wanted me to hold at ULESS. He said yes. He instructed me to contact 'flight watch' to get the NOTAM for the approach; so I called up flight watch and they sent me over to Seattle Radio. When talking to Seattle Radio I informed them that I needed NOTAMs for the ILS approach into HQM. He replied back saying there were no active procedures NOTAMs at the airport. I asked him to confirm this again; by asking 'so you're saying there are no NOTAMs for the ILS at HQM?' And he said in a somewhat impatient manner 'again; there are no NOTAMs for the ILS approach into HQM.' I said thank you; and switched back to Seattle Center. I called up Center saying 'Seattle Center; Aircraft X; Flight Service said there are no active NOTAMs for the ILS approach into HQM.' And then there was silence. I continued to hold. About a minute later; I called up Center again to ask if he had received my last transmission; and he said 'Affirmative; but there is an FDC NOTAM for the ILS approach but I'm too busy to read it to you.' So I asked if I could get the RNAV approach. He said 'There's a NOTAM for that too.' At this point; my workload has shot up about 1000%. Since he asked if I had this NOTAM after he cleared me for the approach and when I was less than a mile from the IAF; with a course change imminent; this meant that when he canceled my approach clearance and told me to maintain 4;000 FT; I didn't really know what to do. Where should I go? My filed flight plan was to this fix; but my route that I received in my clearance was RNT; Renton 2 departure; V27; direct HQM. Since this all came flying at me pretty quickly; I wasn't sure if he wanted me to keep flying on V27 past the airport; or if he wanted me to hold. So I asked him if I should hold at ULESS. He basically just said 'yes.' There were no hold instructions on his part; and again; since my workload had just shot up quite a bit; I wasn't quite sure what to do. So once I crossed the fix; I flew a minute outbound and started turning; when he came back with hold instructions telling me to hold on the other side of the fix than the side I was on and he gave me my choice of left or right turns. Once I was in the hold; I contacted Flight Watch on 122.0 as instructed by ATC. Flight Watch informed me they could not give me NOTAMs; so he gave me frequency for Seattle Radio near HQM which happened to be 122.2. Once I contacted Seattle Radio; I told them I was holding at ULESS on an IFR flight plan and that Seattle Center had instructed me to contact them about getting a NOTAM for the ILS 24 approach. Seattle Radio responded saying there were no NOTAMs. At this point; I felt like I was being left out in the dust. Flight watch was no help; Seattle Radio said they didn't show any NOTAMs; and the Center Controller was not pleased with the situation and left me holding at 4;000 FT at the IAF. A few minutes later; the Controller called up and read the entire NOTAM for the approach to me; and basically the NOTAM was that the decision height was 1 (one) foot higher than was published on the approach plate. So; obviously there are a few problems with this situation; with responsibility lying with pretty much every party involved in the situation; but none of this would have been a problem had I done a thorough preflight briefing. That was my mistake; and I take full responsibility for that. I've learned my lesson. Get your NOTAMs. Second; while the preflight briefing was a bit of an oversight on my part; the Controller could have handled this situation a bit better. He seemed to get very annoyed or even angry at me for not having the NOTAM on board; which he had every right to be. But leaving me out there with basically no direction on what to do was a bit disconcerting. I'm on an IFR flight plan; I'm his responsibility; and he basically comes back and tells me that he's 'too busy' to help me get out of this situation. Honestly; the frequency did not seem too jammed at the time; and while he may have been working multiple frequencies; usually they transmit on all frequencies that they are working. I think that he just didn't want to help me out because he figured that I didn't do my preflight planning to the fullest extent. Though that was true it's not a very professional way to handle a situation like this. But I've learned my lesson and will be thoroughly going through my weather briefings and all of the NOTAM sections. What I think should be addressed here is the disconnect between Seattle Radio not having the NOTAM; and Seattle Center hanging me out to dry. While the controller eventually read me the NOTAM and it turned out to be such a minor change to the approach plate; a one foot difference in DH; it didn't really make any difference one way or another. My altimeter is not that sensitive. It's labeled in 20 foot increments. ATC is supposed to be there to help; but I felt shunned. It was the first time where I've really felt alone and felt like ATC wasn't on my side and wasn't there to help me.
Pilot reports of being left out to dry by ATC when pilot did not have the NOTAM in reference to a Decision Height change.