Story ID: 
Senate Commerce OKs Notam Improvement Bill
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: A Senate panel passed a bill that would set a Sept. 30, 2024 deadline for notam system upgrades and call for a task force report on improvements.
Word Count: 248
The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved by voice vote the Notam Improvement Act of 2023, a companion bill to one that passed the House in late January and calls for a task force to recommend improvements to the notam system. While similar to the House measure, Senate Bill S.66 was approved with amendments that Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) said set deadlines and add a little more teeth to the requirements.
One such change, offered by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), would require the FAA to complete its implementation of the new, modernized Federal Notam System and have a backup system in place by Sept. 30, 2024. The amendment would further call on the FAA to brief Congress on a plan to improve the ability of the system to offer machine-readable and filterable information that is in the format used by the International Civil Aviation Organization. FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen has said he believed most of the modernization effort should be in place by mid-2025 but that he hoped to expedite these efforts.
As for the task force, it would comprise a cross-section of industry leaders and would develop recommendations on how to organize, prioritize, and present notams in a way that highlights the most relevant information to optimize pilot review. The task force—which would also look at the stability, resiliency, and cybersecurity of the system—would have a year to complete its recommendations.