Reading NOTAMs as a spotter: spotting runway closures, flight restrictions and air shows

You want to go to the north runway on Saturday, but that very weekend it is being resurfaced. Or there is an air show in the next town that no spotter forum knows about. You could have known both beforehand, because this kind of information almost always appears in a NOTAM. For pilots, these notices are required reading; for spotters, they are an underrated planning aid. If you can read NOTAMs, you often see runway closures, activated restricted areas and flying displays days ahead. This guide explains structure, codes and abbreviations and shows how to build the information into your spot planning.

What a NOTAM is – the short answer

A NOTAM is a short, standardized notice to aviation about something that changes at short notice. Lasting knowledge about airports, airspace and procedures is in the aeronautical information publication, the AIP. But the AIP is only updated in fixed cycles. Everything that has to move faster goes through NOTAMs, for example:

• a runway or taxiway is closed,
• an instrument landing system fails,
• a construction crane stands near the approach path,
• an area is closed to air traffic,
• a flying display or a military exercise takes place.

The format goes back to the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), specifically Annex 15 to the Chicago Convention. In Germany, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung provides the civil NOTAMs and feeds them into the European database. The name originally stood for “Notice to Airmen.” In the USA, it was at one point “Notice to Air Missions”; that changed nothing about the format.

The structure: a NOTAM line by line

ICAO NOTAMs are written entirely in capital letters and divided into fixed items. As a practice example, we take a fictional, simplified notice for Munich Airport. It is not real but shows the typical structure:

A1234/26 NOTAMN
Q) EDMM/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/4821N01147E005
A) EDDM B) 2611042200 C) 2611050400
D) 2200-0400
E) RWY 08R/26L CLSD DUE TO WIP.

Let’s go through the items.

Identifier: series, number, year, type

A1234/26 consists of the series (one letter), the serial number and the year. Behind it comes the type of notice:

• NOTAMN – new notice,
• NOTAMR – replaces an earlier notice (whose number is then included),
• NOTAMC – cancels an earlier notice.

For you, that means: if a NOTAMR or NOTAMC shows up, the situation has changed. A closure may have been extended, shortened or dropped entirely.

The Q line: the table of contents in one line

The Q line is meant for machines, but it is also the quickest way in for you. Its parts are separated by slashes:

Part	Example	Meaning
FIR	EDMM	Flight information region in which the notice applies
Q code	QMRLC	Subject (2nd and 3rd letters) and status (4th and 5th letters)
Traffic	IV	affects instrument flight (I) and visual flight (V)
Purpose	NBO	Hints on how the notice is distributed and assessed
Scope	A	A = aerodrome, E = en route, W = navigation warning
Altitudes	000/999	Lower and upper limit in flight levels, 000/999 means “not restricted”
Coordinates	4821N01147E005	Center point and radius in nautical miles

The Q code is the part you should pay attention to. It always starts with Q. Letters two and three name the subject, letters four and five the status. MR stands for runway, LC for “closed,” so QMRLC means “runway closed.”

Items A to G

• A) – ICAO code of the airport or FIR, here EDDM for Munich. Frankfurt is EDDF, Hamburg EDDH.
• B) – Start of validity in the format YYMMDDHHmm, always in UTC.
• C) – End of validity. Instead of a time, EST can appear here (the end is only estimated) or PERM (the change applies permanently).
• D) – optional schedule, if the notice does not apply around the clock, for example only at night.
• E) – the actual plain text, heavily abbreviated and in English.
• F) and G) – lower and upper altitude limit, mainly for airspace notices. SFC means surface, UNL means unlimited.

So our example means: on the night of November 4 to 5, 2026, runway 08R/26L in Munich is closed because of construction work, from 22:00 to 04:00 UTC – that is, from 23:00 to 05:00 German winter time. Which runway carries which number is explained in the article Runway designations at airports.

The most important abbreviations in plain language

Item E saves on every letter. With a handful of abbreviations, you understand most of the notices that interest spotters:

Abbreviation	Meaning	Typical spotter context
RWY	Runway	runway closure, shortened runway
TWY	Taxiway	changed taxi routes, different taxiing shots
CLSD	closed	closures of any kind
WIP	work in progress, construction work	renovations, night work
U/S	unserviceable, out of service	ILS or lighting failed
AVBL / UNAVBL	available / not available	restrictions on facilities
LDG / TKOF	landing / takeoff	runway only for takeoffs or only for landings
OBST	obstacle	cranes, masts near the airport
AD	aerodrome	general airport notices
H24 / DLY	around the clock / daily	time information in items D and E
SR / SS	sunrise / sunset	notices tied to daylight hours

If you want to understand the language of air traffic control even better, you will find many of the same abbreviations again in the article on ATIS and in the guide Reading METAR and TAF.

Three types of notices spotters should know

Runway closures and construction work

For spot planning, these are the most important NOTAMs. When a runway is closed, traffic shifts. At airports with two parallel runways like Munich, everything then runs over one runway. Some spots get worse as a result, others significantly better. At airports with only one runway, a closure can mean that nothing flies at all. Sometimes, though, unusual approaches or diversion traffic are added. More on how to use such phases deliberately is in the article Runway closures and construction work as a spotting opportunity.

Also watch for partial closures. If a runway is only shortened, touchdown points and taxi routes change. If an instrument landing system fails (for example ILS RWY 26L U/S), that can affect runway choice in bad weather. How the instrument approach works is explained in the article ILS approach explained.

Flight restrictions and restricted areas

For state visits, summits or major events, time-limited flight restriction areas are often set up. In the NOTAM, you recognize them by Q codes from the group of airspace restrictions (subject “R,” such as RT for a temporary restricted area), by coordinates with a radius and by the altitude limits in F and G. For spotters, this is interesting in two ways:

• Something special is coming. A restricted area around an airport often points to government or state flights. How to find such aircraft is covered in the article Spotting government aircraft.
• More rules apply than usual. Around such events, there are often also barriers on the ground and more police. Allow more time and follow instructions on site. What is generally allowed at the fence is summed up in Is plane spotting allowed?.

For drone pilots, such areas are binding. If you are out with a drone, you should also check the dipul map with the geozones (dipul is Germany’s official drone airspace map) and know the drone rules around airports. How airspace is divided in general is explained in Airspace classes A to G.

Air shows and flying displays

Flying displays intrude on the airspace and are therefore usually announced by NOTAM. The Q code then starts with QWA; the subject “WA” stands for air display. Added to that are time windows, center point, radius and altitude limits. For spotters, that is handy: you see on which days and at which hours flying takes place, often even for smaller events that are hardly advertised. Military exercises run under their own subject (“WE” for exercises).

The program, meaning who flies what and when, is of course not listed there. The organizer’s page remains the better source for that. You will find an overview of the big events in Air shows in Europe for plane spotters and specifically on ILA Berlin. The matching packing list is in the Air show gear checklist.

Q code subject	Meaning	What it means for you
MR	Runway	runway closure, different runway direction in use or runway use possible
MX	Taxiway	different taxi routes, new photo subjects at the fence
IC	ILS	affects runway choice in bad weather
OB	Obstacle	cranes or masts – sometimes in the picture too
RT	temporary restricted area	hint of state or special flights
WA	Air display (flying display)	air show or open day nearby
WE	Exercises	military flying, often interesting types

Where to find NOTAMs

The official source in Germany is the DFS’s AIS service, which also provides NOTAMs. There are also international NOTAM searches that let you retrieve notices by ICAO location indicator, for example the NOTAM search of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Many flight planning and pilot tools also process NOTAMs further, for instance graphically on a map. For getting started with aeronautical charts, the article on openAIP maps helps. How to read an airport chart with runways and taxiways is explained in Reading AIP airport charts.

Two everyday tips:

• Search by airport code, not by name. EDDF, EDDM, EDDH give you the airport notices specifically. Via the FIR, you also get airspace notices for the surrounding area.
• Don’t be put off by the volume. At large airports, many NOTAMs are active at the same time. A large share concerns details such as individual lamps, obstacles or procedures. Filter mentally for RWY, TWY, ILS, restricted areas and flying displays.

From NOTAM to spot decision: step by step

An example from practice: at Frankfurt Airport, there are several runways with different orientations. If one of the parallel runways is closed, traffic is distributed differently. The view from the Zeppelinheim viewing platform can then offer a very different picture than usual. In Munich, when a runway is closed, it is worth checking whether the visitors’ hill is still the right choice.

What to watch out for

• NOTAMs are not a flight schedule. They show what is possible or ruled out. Which aircraft arrives when, you see on the live map – you will find a comparison of the services under Flight tracker apps compared.
• Don’t panic at EST. An estimated end often just means that construction work depends on the weather. Better plan with a buffer and check the notice again shortly before your visit.
• Night closures are common. Many construction jobs run at night, when little flies anyway. Where night flight restrictions apply, you often notice nothing of it during the day – more on this in Night flight bans at German airports.
• Original over interpretation. Screenshots from forums or social media are often outdated. Rely on the current notice from an official source.
• Not every change is a NOTAM. Permanent changes end up in the AIP, short-term fluctuations such as current weather in METAR and ATIS.

Conclusion

NOTAMs look cryptic the first time but follow a strict scheme. The identifier shows you whether a notice is new, replaces something or cancels it. The Q line reveals the subject, items B, C and D the validity in UTC, item E the plain text. For spotters, what matters most are runways, taxiways, ILS, restricted areas and flying displays. If you briefly check these notices before every outing and compare them with wind and light, you will less often find yourself facing a closed runway. Occasionally, you will also be the first to hear about a special flight or an air show.