Knowing Your NOTAMS:
FICON is for “Field Conditions”

As more and more pilots move to using 21st century technology to obtain weather briefings, more and more pilots will have to decipher the abbreviations used in NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) on their own. Of course, a fair number of pilots will still choose to have their 21st century technology translate the NOTAM for them, but many others find it faster to read the shorthand version of the NOTAM as it is transmitted.

It really isn’t an overly daunting task to read NOTAMs in their raw format, and for those who do so, it’s good to know about new abbreviations as they’re added. It’s also important to know where to find a comprehensive list of the abbreviations. See the FAA’s website for a list of current NOTAM abbreviations.

One new abbreviation that hasn’t made it to the FAA’s NOTAM lexicon yet that you may see is “FICON”. It is the abbreviation for “Field Conditions”. The reason given for its inception is so that pilots and dispatchers can more easily find, in a lengthy list of NOTAMs, any information pertaining to an airport’s surface conditions.
Specifically:

“Field condition” (FICON) NOTAMs are used to report surface contaminants on runways, taxiways, and aprons/ramps.” JO 7930.93, October 20, 2011.

!HFD HFD TWY ALL FICON PTCHY THN PACKED SN BA FAIR WEF 1201201650
All taxiways at Hartford-Brainard are covered with patchy thin packed snow. Braking action is reported as “fair”. With effect from (WEF) January 20, 2012 (120120 – Note: The date format is YYMMDD) at 1650 Zulu (1650)

!HFD HFD RWY 11/29 FICON THN PTCHY PSR BA POOR
Hartford-Brainard’s Runways 11 & 29 have less than full coverage (patchy) packed snow – braking action is reported poor

!BAF BAF RWY 15/33 FICON PTCHY THN WSR
Westfield Barnes Municipal’s Runway 15/33 has less than full coverage of a thin layer of wet snow

!OQU OQU RWY 16/34 FICON PLW 100 WIDE RMNDR 1/2 IN SIR
Quonset State’s Runway is wider than 100 feet, and the area inside the center 100 feet is plowed (PLW) bare. The 1/2 inch of snow and ice (SIR) is outside the plowed area

“Note: PLW/swept are used when indicating that a portion of a surface has been plowed or swept and is either bare or has depth, coverage, and conditions different than the surrounding area. When known, the surrounding area items will be specified as RMNDR and listed after the plowed information. Plowed/swept is omitted when the entire runway, taxiway, ramp or apron has been plowed.”
JO 7930.93, October 20, 2011

!BDL BDL RWY 6/24 FICON 5 IN SIR
Bradley International Airport, Runway 1/19 has 5 inches of packed or compacted snow and Ice on the runways (SIR)

!IJD IJD RWY 9/27 FICON 1 IN RUF IR
Windham’s runway 9/27 is covered with 1 inch of rough ice (or frozen slush)

!OXC OXC RWY 18/36 FICON 1/2 IN SIR
Waterbury Oxford’s runway 18/36 has one half inch of snow and ice

!BDL BDL RWY 1/19 FICON 1 IN SLR
Bradley International’s Runway 1/19 is covered with 1 inch of slush

A list of NOTAM contractions may be found in the AIM (Aeronautical Information Manual) Table 5-1-1, and a comprehensive list of FAA contractions and abbreviations may be found in the current version of FAA Order JO 7340.

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