Narrative:

Enroute to cylw; ATC informed us that the weather at cylw had gone down to 1 1/8 sm. We said we would continue toward the destination and see how the weather trended. We pulled out our approach charts and briefed the ILS runway 16-2. It is an approach specifically tailored for our airline and we have been using it for years. The min visibility for the ILS runway 16-2 is 1 sm. The approach briefing is quite long due to a complex single engine missed approach procedure (it is nonstandard). We got it all briefed and ATC told us that the visibility had increased to 2 sm and the ceiling was 300 overcast. We shot the approach and landed uneventfully. As we taxied in; I asked the captain if he had checked the NOTAMS (I was suspicious because the people were ecstatic that we had landed). He said he had not. After we parked; I dug through the NOTAMS and buried in there was a navigation canada NOTAM stating that ILS runway 16-2 was temporarily suspended for further evaluation! We were supposed to shoot the ILS runway 16-1 instead. There is no difference between the two approaches except a higher DH for ILS runway 16-1. No one else made it into cylw that day. I was stunned and frustrated. Frustrated that an approach that we've used for years was suddenly deemed unusable and there was no company info about it. There is a space on the first page of our release (under the flight plan) that is specifically reserved for special NOTAMS and other noteworthy items and there was nothing concerning this. We had been very busy (I failed to mention that we had a maintenance issue enroute and that took our time and attention for at least 1/2 the flight). I am tired of getting NOTAMS for our flights and it is as thick as an encyclopedia; and we are expected to pick through NOTAMS for every airfield along our route to finally get to the ones that concern us. When a very significant NOTAM such as this pops up; it should be put in our special notes section. Fortunately; the visibility required to shoot the ILS runway 16-1 is 1.5 sm and we had 2 sm. We were legal per the visibility but I am not too sure we would have seen the runway at the ILS runway 16-1 mins. Now; I always read the NOTAMS and time schedules be darned! An improvement in the NOTAM distribution system would be helpful along with dispatchers who could raise our awareness to such unusual occurrences.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier pilot comments that some Canadian NOTAMS are published in the Canadian system but not in the USA NOTAMS.

Narrative: Enroute to CYLW; ATC informed us that the weather at CYLW had gone down to 1 1/8 sm. We said we would continue toward the destination and see how the weather trended. We pulled out our approach charts and briefed the ILS Runway 16-2. It is an approach specifically tailored for our airline and we have been using it for years. The min visibility for the ILS Runway 16-2 is 1 sm. The approach briefing is quite long due to a complex single engine missed approach procedure (it is nonstandard). We got it all briefed and ATC told us that the visibility had increased to 2 sm and the ceiling was 300 overcast. We shot the approach and landed uneventfully. As we taxied in; I asked the captain if he had checked the NOTAMS (I was suspicious because the people were ecstatic that we had landed). He said he had not. After we parked; I dug through the NOTAMS and buried in there was a NAV CANADA NOTAM stating that ILS Runway 16-2 was temporarily suspended for further evaluation! We were supposed to shoot the ILS Runway 16-1 instead. There is no difference between the two approaches except a higher DH for ILS Runway 16-1. No one else made it into CYLW that day. I was stunned and frustrated. Frustrated that an approach that we've used for years was suddenly deemed unusable and there was no company info about it. There is a space on the first page of our release (under the flight plan) that is specifically reserved for special NOTAMS and other noteworthy items and there was nothing concerning this. We had been very busy (I failed to mention that we had a maintenance issue enroute and that took our time and attention for at least 1/2 the flight). I am tired of getting NOTAMS for our flights and it is as thick as an encyclopedia; and we are expected to pick through NOTAMS for every airfield along our route to finally get to the ones that concern us. When a VERY SIGNIFICANT NOTAM such as this pops up; it should be put in our special notes section. Fortunately; the visibility required to shoot the ILS Runway 16-1 is 1.5 sm and we had 2 sm. We were legal per the visibility but I am not too sure we would have seen the runway at the ILS Runway 16-1 mins. Now; I always read the NOTAMS and time schedules be darned! An improvement in the NOTAM distribution system would be helpful along with dispatchers who could raise our awareness to such unusual occurrences.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.