Narrative:

Before this flight to goldsboro; nc (gww) I received 3 briefings: one duat the prior night; another duat early morning of the flight and an update briefing by phone from a flight briefer. I had all current charts and approach plates for the flight and the destination airport. The flight was conducted on an IFR flight plan in generally good VFR; daylight conditions. Via in-cockpit weather on my garmin 396; with xm weather subscription; I monitored the metar for my destination airport; gww; and its surrounding airports for about an hour prior to arrival. Earlier in the day the ceiling at gww was 800 ft; with a forecast of more than 1000 ft by the time of my arrival. The periodic metars were confirming improving conditions; and at the time of arrival; the ceiling at gww was at 1400. However; I was at 3000 in good VFR conditions on top. The controller asked if I wanted a visual approach. Although conditions were VFR both on top and below; the cloud deck below was pretty solid; with maybe 10-20% breaks in the clouds. I told the controller I would like the RNAV GPS RWY5 approach; which he approved. He then gave me clearance to the IAF; wadap. About 12 miles from wadap; the controller asked if I was familiar with the approach NOTAM for that approach. I told him I was not. He said to change frequency and go over to flight service for the NOTAM. Since I was only 4 minutes from the IAP; I asked if he could provide a best frequency for flight service. At that point he said alright; I'll give you the NOTAM; and read it off. Instead of pronouncing each term; he read each letter; e.g. Instead of the word LNAV; he read l-n-a-V-M-D-a; etc. By the time he read the text; the best I could make out was that the minimums were amended some for the approach. I reasoned that I would be going into VFR conditions as soon as I passed through the cloud layer whose bottoms were at 1400 ft; and that although I didn't fully understand the NOTAM; even increased visibility and hat minimums would not be a factor and I elected to use the official approach as the safest course to descend below the clouds. When below the clouds; and with the airport in sight; I cancelled IFR; went over to local frequency and coordinated my arrival with local traffic at gww. Despite 3 official briefings prior to the flight; and checking notams for both departure; arrival and surrounding airports; I still was not aware of the fdc NOTAM that was referenced by the controller in this discussion. I wondered why the live briefer did not mention the NOTAM and I realized that (a) since I already had two duat briefings; I asked for an update briefing from the live briefer by telephone just before departing. So; if the briefer I spoke to in fl was aware of this NOTAM; he may have thought I already had it; or (b) the briefer may not have been familiar with the NOTAM since he was familiar with my departure area in fl and not as familiar with my destination airport 400 miles away in a different state. So he was either not aware of; or assumed I already had; the fdc NOTAM from my duat briefings.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Mooney pilot reports receiving two DUAT briefings and an update briefing prior to departure on IFR flight to GWW. During RNAV Runway 5 approach reporter was informed by ATC of an FDC NOTAM revising the minimums that was not conveyed during any of the briefings.

Narrative: Before this flight to Goldsboro; NC (GWW) I received 3 briefings: one DUAT the prior night; another DUAT early morning of the flight and an UPDATE briefing by phone from a flight briefer. I had all current charts and approach plates for the flight and the destination airport. The flight was conducted on an IFR flight plan in generally good VFR; daylight conditions. Via in-cockpit weather on my Garmin 396; with XM weather subscription; I monitored the METAR for my destination airport; GWW; and its surrounding airports for about an hour prior to arrival. Earlier in the day the ceiling at GWW was 800 FT; with a forecast of more than 1000 FT by the time of my arrival. The periodic METARs were confirming improving conditions; and at the time of arrival; the ceiling at GWW was at 1400. However; I was at 3000 in good VFR conditions on top. The Controller asked if I wanted a visual approach. Although conditions were VFR both on top and below; the cloud deck below was pretty solid; with maybe 10-20% breaks in the clouds. I told the Controller I would like the RNAV GPS RWY5 approach; which he approved. He then gave me clearance to the IAF; WADAP. About 12 miles from WADAP; the Controller asked if I was familiar with the approach NOTAM for that approach. I told him I was not. He said to change frequency and go over to Flight Service for the NOTAM. Since I was only 4 minutes from the IAP; I asked if he could provide a best frequency for flight service. At that point he said alright; I'll give you the NOTAM; and read it off. Instead of pronouncing each term; he read each letter; e.g. instead of the word LNAV; he read L-N-A-V-M-D-A; etc. By the time he read the text; the best I could make out was that the minimums were amended some for the approach. I reasoned that I would be going into VFR conditions as soon as I passed through the cloud layer whose bottoms were at 1400 FT; and that although I didn't fully understand the NOTAM; even increased visibility and HAT minimums would not be a factor and I elected to use the official approach as the safest course to descend below the clouds. When below the clouds; and with the airport in sight; I cancelled IFR; went over to local frequency and coordinated my arrival with local traffic at GWW. Despite 3 official briefings prior to the flight; and checking NOTAMs for both departure; arrival and surrounding airports; I still was not aware of the FDC NOTAM that was referenced by the Controller in this discussion. I wondered why the live briefer did not mention the NOTAM and I realized that (a) since I already had two DUAT briefings; I asked for an update briefing from the live briefer by telephone just before departing. So; if the briefer I spoke to in FL was aware of this NOTAM; he may have thought I already had it; or (b) the briefer may not have been familiar with the NOTAM since he was familiar with my departure area in FL and not as familiar with my destination airport 400 miles away in a different state. So he was either not aware of; or assumed I already had; the FDC NOTAM from my DUAT briefings.

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.