When you think about it a bit, there is no real difference between an
approach deauthorized last week and one deauthorized last year or two
years ago.. The PIC still has to confirm the availability of the
approach by examining all current and published FDC NOTAMS. When a
NOTAM says "Approach NA", who cares how old the information is? The
fact that it is NA now is current information.

I think if there is anything that is subject to criticism here it is
that the pilot was apparently cleared for a deauthorized approach by
ATC. It seems to me that they should have known of its status.







On Wed, 30 May 2007 13:34:45 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

In a previous article, Dave Butler said:
wrote:
They are out of the online version of the Notices to Airmaen
Publication (faa.gov/ntap)

Are you saying that your two minute lookup is adequate, then? Do the
NOTAMs you found include the NOTAM deauthorizing the SDF approach at
KSME that the original poster referred to? What's your point?

The SDF was listed as OTS for four years before the accident (in 2000),
then for another year or so after the accident, and then it was
decomissioned and replaced by another approach.

The problem is that it's very hard to look up NOTAMs while in the air,
like when conditions force you to divert to an airport you hadn't planned
on. Or you might not remember which approaches are OTS while you're
bumping along in the dark. In my view, it would be a really great
improvement in safety if they either stopped publishing the plates while
the navaids were OTS, or overprinted them with "OTS DO NOT USE" or
something. (It would also be an improvement in safety if controllers
didn't clear you for OTS approaches, but they're human too and might miss
once in a while - the whole point of IFR flying is checks and cross
checks.)