NOTAMs Decoded: Reading Notices to Air Missions as a Drone Pilot

What Is a NOTAM?

A NOTAM — Notice to Air Missions — is an official notice issued by aviation authorities to alert pilots of hazards, restrictions, or changes affecting airspace. In Canada, NOTAMs are published through NAV CANADA and cover everything from temporary flight restrictions and airspace closures to military exercises, construction cranes, fireworks displays, and changes to aerodrome operations. They are a fundamental part of flight planning for all aircraft, including drones.

For drone pilots, NOTAMs are not optional reading. A NOTAM may indicate that a temporary restricted area has been established directly over your planned flight location, that a military exercise is closing airspace in your region, or that a tall crane has been erected near an aerodrome. Missing a relevant NOTAM does not just risk a regulatory violation — it risks a collision or an incursion into active restricted airspace.

Decoding the Format

NOTAMs are written in a standardised coded format developed for manned aviation. They are terse, abbreviated, and — for the uninitiated — borderline cryptic. A typical Canadian NOTAM might look something like this:

A0123/25 NOTAMN
Q) CZUL/QRTCA/IV/BO/W/000/030/4527N07334W005
A) CYUL B) 2510150800 C) 2510152000
E) TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED 2NM RADIUS CENTRED ON 4527N 07334W SFC TO 3000FT AMSL. DRONE ACTIVITY. AUTH: NAV CANADA

Breaking this down: A0123/25 is the NOTAM identifier (number 0123, issued in 2025). NOTAMN means it is a new NOTAM (as opposed to a replacement or cancellation). The Q line encodes the Flight Information Region, subject, condition, scope, altitude limits, and coordinates. B) and C) give the effective start and end times in the format YYMMDDHHMM UTC. The E) line is the plain-text description — and even this uses abbreviations like SFC (surface), AMSL (above mean sea level), and NM (nautical miles).

Common NOTAM Types That Affect Drone Operations

Not every NOTAM is relevant to drone pilots, but several categories demand attention:

• Temporary Restricted Areas — Established for events like VIP movements, wildfires, or emergency responses. These create no-fly zones that apply to all aircraft, including drones.
• Military Exercises — Canadian Forces regularly activate airspace for training. These can cover large areas at low altitudes directly relevant to drone operations.
• Obstacle Notifications — Temporary obstacles such as construction cranes near aerodromes are published as NOTAMs, affecting approach and departure paths where drones may also operate.
• Aerodrome Changes — Runway closures, changes to traffic patterns, or equipment outages may affect controlled airspace authorisations for drone operators near airports.
• Special Events — Major sporting events, concerts, and public gatherings often trigger temporary flight restrictions that affect the surrounding area.

The Challenge for Drone Operators

The NOTAM system was designed decades ago for commercial and private manned aviation pilots who undergo extensive training in reading coded aviation publications. Drone pilots — many of whom come from non-aviation backgrounds — face a steep learning curve. The abbreviated format is difficult to parse, the volume of active NOTAMs at any given time can be overwhelming, and it is easy to miss the one relevant notice buried among dozens of irrelevant ones.

NAV CANADA's NOTAM portal is functional but designed for airline dispatchers and licenced pilots. There is no built-in filtering for drone-specific relevance, no map-based visualisation tying NOTAMs to your specific flight area, and no plain-language translation of the coded entries. The burden of interpretation falls entirely on the drone pilot.

How RPAS WILCO Fly Solves This

RPAS WILCO Fly was designed to eliminate the guesswork. When you set your flight location in the app, it automatically retrieves all active NOTAMs affecting that area from authoritative NAV CANADA sources. The app then applies plain-language parsing that translates the coded format into readable, human-friendly alerts — so instead of deciphering "QRTCA/IV/BO/W/000/030" you see a clear statement like "Temporary Restricted Area from surface to 3,000 ft, active October 15 0800-2000 UTC."

Critically, RPAS WILCO Fly filters out irrelevant NOTAMs — those affecting high-altitude airways, distant aerodromes, or instrument approach procedures that have no bearing on your drone flight — and highlights the ones that directly affect your planned operation. If a NOTAM creates a restriction overlapping your mission area, you will see it flagged immediately with a clear explanation of what it means and how it affects your flight. Real-time updates ensure that any new NOTAMs published after you begin planning are surfaced before you launch.

Practical Tips for Checking NOTAMs

Regardless of what tools you use, make NOTAM checks a non-negotiable part of your preflight routine. Check NOTAMs no more than a few hours before your planned flight — they can be issued at any time. If you are flying near an aerodrome or in controlled airspace, pay special attention to NOTAMs for that specific facility. For multi-day operations, re-check at the start of each day. And always verify the effective dates and times — a NOTAM may be active only during specific hours, and times are always in UTC, not local time. Building this habit will keep you informed, compliant, and safe in Canadian airspace.