A controller questioned the information dispersal procedures used by the FAA; both NOTAMS and/or the...

Narrative:

I received a call from AFSS requesting an IFR clearance from malone; ny (mal) to saratoga; ny (5b2). Because the massena; ny (mss) VORTAC is unusable to the south; mal is not within any NAVAID use limitations; therefore; I could not issue the departure clearance. I informed AFSS of such; the aircraft departed VFR later and received its IFR once it was radar identified. From what I understand; for prolonged outages such as the case of mss; notams are no longer issued instead the information regarding the outage is placed in the AFD. What's interesting in this case is that although mal lists mss as the radio aid to navigation; the remarks state 'NOTAM file mss'. But there are no notams for mss. Additionally; there is no clear message anywhere that says if you land at mal you will not be able to depart IFR from there. Information should be readily accessible to pilots regarding navigation outages in the NAS. Publishing information in the AFD should be complete or notams should remain regarding outages.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Controller questioned the information dispersal procedures used by the FAA; both NOTAMS and/or the AFD with regard to NAVAID availability; after an event involving an IFR departure from MAL.

Narrative: I received a call from AFSS requesting an IFR clearance from Malone; NY (MAL) to Saratoga; NY (5B2). Because the Massena; NY (MSS) VORTAC is unusable to the south; MAL is not within any NAVAID use limitations; therefore; I could not issue the departure clearance. I informed AFSS of such; the aircraft departed VFR later and received its IFR once it was RADAR identified. From what I understand; for prolonged outages such as the case of MSS; NOTAMs are no longer issued instead the information regarding the outage is placed in the AFD. What's interesting in this case is that although MAL lists MSS as the Radio Aid to Navigation; the remarks state 'NOTAM File MSS'. But there are no NOTAMs for MSS. Additionally; there is no clear message anywhere that says if you land at MAL you will not be able to depart IFR from there. Information should be readily accessible to pilots regarding navigation outages in the NAS. Publishing information in the AFD should be complete or NOTAMs should remain regarding outages.

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.

Attributes
ACN	897158
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZBW.ARTCC
State Reference	NH
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Bonanza 33
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown

A controller questioned the information dispersal procedures used by the FAA; both NOTAMS and/or the AFD with regard to NAVAID availability; after an event involving an IFR departure from mal.