U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

Section 3. Use of Terms

3-3-1. USE OF CONTRACTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

a. Contractions and abbreviations designated for ICAO usage as specified in FAA Order JO 7340.2, Contractions, must be used in the NOTAM system. Where an ICAO contraction is not listed, plain text is required. See Appendix D for a list (not all inclusive) of ICAO differences – words that are allowable in a NOTAM even though it is not ICAO compliant.

b. For indicating abbreviated days of the week, a hyphen may be used to indicate successive days or each day can be specified individually separated by a single space; for example, MON­FRI means Monday through Friday, whereas MON WED FRI means Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

c. The Pilot/Controller Glossary must be used to define terms in the NOTAM system.

d. Location identifiers used in the NOTAM system are those contained in FAA Order JO 7350.8, Location Identifiers.

e. Contractions and abbreviations published on instrument flight procedure charts may be used in the text of FDC NOTAMs relating to approach and departure procedures.

f. Contractions written in the singular form decode to mean both the singular and plural.

3-3-2. EXPRESSION OF TIME IN THE NOTAM SYSTEM

a. The day begins at 0000 and ends at 2359.

b. Times used in the NOTAM system are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC/Zulu) unless otherwise stated, and must be stated in 10 digits for the year, month, day, hour, and minute (YYMM-DDHHMM).

c. Sunrise-Sunset (SR-SS) is allowed when describing a daily schedule.

3-3-3. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

Specify the unit of measurement in distance, height, altitude, or weight. When using an abbreviation, do not add a space between the measurement and the unit of measurement.

EXAMPLES-
500FT
12500LB
5NM

3-3-4. RUNWAY IDENTIFICATION

a. List the runway identifications in clockwise order beginning from the 1 o'clock position.

b. Identify runways with the prefix RWY followed by magnetic bearing indicator.

EXAMPLE-
RWY 3/21
RWY 3
RWY 21

c. The Department of Defense must specify the runway identification as it is published.

EXAMPLE-
RWY 08

d. Parallel runways are differentiated by using the runway designators.

EXAMPLES-
RWY 3L
RWY 3C
RWY 3R

e. Where the magnetic bearing indicator has not been established, identify the runway to the nearest eight points of the compass. The forward slash “/” is used to separate runway pair designators and should not be used elsewhere to mean “and.”

EXAMPLES-
RWY NE/SW CLSD
RWY N/S N 200 FT CLSD

3-3-5. TAXIWAY IDENTIFICATION

a. Identify taxiways with the prefix TWY followed with the taxiway designator letter or letter/number as assigned.

1. Describe a taxiway that does not have an assigned designator as adjacent to a runway or direction from runway.

EXAMPLE-
SHD TWY PARL TWY ADJ RWY 9/27 CLSD

2. When a cardinal direction is used to describe a taxiway condition, the word describing the direction must be spelled out in full to ensure that the cardinal direction is not mistaken for a taxiway designator; for example, “EAST,” “WEST,” “SOUTHWEST.”

b. Keyword TWY may be followed by designator “ALL.”

EXAMPLES-
ACY TWY ALL CLSD

DEN TWY ALL EDGE LGT WEST OF RWY 16L/34R OUT OF SERVICE

SHD TWY ALL EDGE LGT OUT OF SERVICE

NOTE-
This can also be used when an airport has only one taxiway or apron. See Paragraph 4­2­1, NOTAM Composition.

c. For multiple taxiways, each taxiway need not be prefaced with contraction TWY;

1. Taxiway segments must be separated from each taxiway or taxiway segment with a comma and preceded by contraction TWY followed by the taxiway designator. The use of BTN and AND signifies a segment, i.e., TWY B BTN TWY B10 AND TWY B8.

EXAMPLE-
DCA TWY B3,C CLSD

2. Taxiway segments separated by a comma will share only the condition; for example, multiple segments separated by commas may share the condition CLSD or WIP SN REMOVAL.

EXAMPLE-
DEN TWY B1, B2, F, TWY B BTN TWY B10 AND TWY B8 CLSD

NOTE-
1. The originator may originate multiple NOTAMs to ensure clarity.

2. The use of the virgule “/” to separate large segments is not authorized.

3-3-6. APRON IDENTIFICATION

Identify aprons with the prefix APRON followed with the apron designator.

EXAMPLES-
DCA DCA APRON ALL CLSD

FAI FAI APRON TERMINAL RAMP FICON PATCHY THIN SN

NOTE-
“ALL” can be used at airports that have more than one apron to indicate all aprons are affected equally, OR where there is only one apron, to indicate its condition.