Notams

Jeppesen ForeFlight Launches AI-Powered ClearNOTAMs to Simplify Flight Planning

One of the most challenging parts of being a pilot is gathering "all available information before a flight" as required by regulation. This is especially true when it comes to sifting through information dispersed in the form of Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs). Jeppesen ForeFlight is trying to make obtaining and understanding the information easier with ClearNOTAMs, an app that takes the raw NOTAMs, delivered in all capital letters and abbreviations, and decodes them to allow a pilot to sort them by relevance to the flight. According to Cole Crawford, director of product at Jeppesen ForeFlight, ClearNOTAMs provides pilots with an English translation of every NOTAM, while also conveying each one's real operational impact, so the pilot knows what to expect without altering the underlying meaning or fully replacing the original. READ MORE: Tecnam Forms Alliance With Jeppesen ForeFlight READ MORE: Jeppesen ForeFlight Introduces Emergency Glide Mode "ClearNOTAMs helps pilots spend less time deciphering information and more time understanding it," said Crawford in a news release. "By transforming complex NOTAM language into clear, concise summaries, we're making one of the most important parts of flight planning more accessible and actionable." AI Enabled ClearNOTAMs has been in development for a little over a year, according to Crawford, and part of that time was spent making sure the artificial intelligence-powered NOTAM intelligence was up to the task of correctly interpreting and summarizing NOTAM terminology. This includes building extensive automated cross-checks into the system for accuracy to maximize the quality of every translation. The outcome is a plain English summary that becomes the primary text for each NOTAM. In addition, the original coded version may be viewed alongside the translation with just a tap, making it easy for pilots to verify any translation's accuracy and view the original at any time. ClearNOTAMs is available through ForeFlight. The program has customizable filters so the pilot can separate categories such as airport, airspace, runway, etc., or by the NOTAM issuing body such as local or regional.  The user can sort the NOTAMs by most recent update and effective time and "pin" specific NOTAMs to the top of the list with a tap, or collapse them with a double tap as they see fit.  Three-Month Trial Individual ForeFlight users are invited to test-fly ClearNOTAMs through subscription plans following EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (July 20-26) for a complimentary three-month trial.  Following the trial period, the feature will be available only with ForeFlight's Premium plan for individuals, Business Performance for flight departments, and MFB Performance and MFB One for military and government customers. The other user interface enhancements to NOTAMs, such as filtering, sorting, pinning, and collapsing, will be available with all ForeFlight subscription plans.