Narrative:

I checked notams on duats before my flight yesterday. There was no NOTAM listed saying that the annual fly-in procedures were in effect. Therefore; I was surprised when approach control directed me toward the lake after being cleared for the visual approach shortly before noon. I figured I'd screwed up and missed the annual fly-in arrival procedure NOTAM; assuming that the fly-in arrival procedures didn't take effect until the next day; when the fly-in starts; which is how I recall it working previous years. While I've flown into the annual fly-in using the lake approach before; I didn't remember the procedure well enough to fly it with confidence; and admitted to ATC I was unfamiliar. Approach said they could get me vectors to the airport and made me feel bad about not having properly checked NOTAM's. I was embarrassed and got flustered and managed not to change to the right radio to talk to the tower. There was a bit more confusion when I talked to the tower; as I assumed they knew I wasn't familiar with the arrival procedure; but approach apparently hadn't mentioned this to the tower; but in any case I landed uneventfully. Later I confirmed that indeed the duats briefing system does not include a NOTAM stating that the annual fly-in procedure was in effect. I called flight service to ask about this and the specialist told me that because the annual fly-in arrival procedure was published in the printed ntap notice to airman publication it was removed from the NOTAM system. When I suggested this might not be in the best interest of safety; since pilots expect complete briefings from flight service or duats; he replied 'it had always been done this way'. I'm an ATP rated pilot and was under the impression that I could get current NOTAM's from flight service or duats. I subsequently called my pilot club's pilot hotline to ask what procedure I should have followed to get properly briefed for this flight; and the person that answered the phone thought I was misinformed by flight service and that the NOTAM regarding the annual fly-in arrival procedures should have been in the system. I'm waiting for a follow-up from him. I hope this was a mistake on the FAA's part and that in the future one will be able to get a complete flight briefing; including all relevant NOTAM's; using duats or flight service; and that each pilot will not have to review the printed ntap document. If it turns out this is not the case; I'll have to start reviewing the printed document. While at the annual fly-in I described my experience to a few people and all agreed that in the interest of safety it would be better if the normal NOTAM feed used by flight service and duats included important NOTAM's like the one regarding annual fly-in procedure dates.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TBM pilot reports arriving early for the airports Annual Fly-In to find special arrival procedures already in effect; although no mention was made in the NOTAM's for the airport.

Narrative: I checked NOTAMs on DUATS before my flight yesterday. There was no NOTAM listed saying that the Annual Fly-In Procedures were in effect. Therefore; I was surprised when Approach Control directed me toward the lake after being cleared for the visual approach shortly before noon. I figured I'd screwed up and missed the Annual Fly-In Arrival Procedure NOTAM; assuming that the fly-in arrival procedures didn't take effect until the next day; when the fly-in starts; which is how I recall it working previous years. While I've flown into the Annual Fly-In using the lake approach before; I didn't remember the procedure well enough to fly it with confidence; and admitted to ATC I was unfamiliar. Approach said they could get me vectors to the airport and made me feel bad about not having properly checked NOTAM's. I was embarrassed and got flustered and managed not to change to the right radio to talk to the Tower. There was a bit more confusion when I talked to the Tower; as I assumed they knew I wasn't familiar with the arrival procedure; but Approach apparently hadn't mentioned this to the Tower; but in any case I landed uneventfully. Later I confirmed that indeed the DUATS briefing system does NOT include a NOTAM stating that the Annual Fly-In Procedure was in effect. I called Flight Service to ask about this and the specialist told me that because the Annual Fly-In Arrival Procedure was published in the printed NTAP Notice to Airman Publication it was removed from the NOTAM system. When I suggested this might not be in the best interest of safety; since pilots expect complete briefings from Flight Service or DUATS; he replied 'it had always been done this way'. I'm an ATP rated pilot and was under the impression that I could get current NOTAM's from Flight Service or DUATS. I subsequently called my pilot club's Pilot Hotline to ask what procedure I should have followed to get properly briefed for this flight; and the person that answered the phone thought I was misinformed by Flight Service and that the NOTAM regarding the Annual Fly-In Arrival Procedures should have been in the system. I'm waiting for a follow-up from him. I hope this was a mistake on the FAA's part and that in the future one will be able to get a complete flight briefing; including all relevant NOTAM's; using DUATS or Flight Service; and that each pilot will not have to review the printed NTAP document. If it turns out this is not the case; I'll have to start reviewing the printed document. While at the Annual Fly-In I described my experience to a few people and all agreed that in the interest of safety it would be better if the normal NOTAM Feed used by Flight Service and DUATS included important NOTAM's like the one regarding Annual Fly-In Procedure dates.

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.