[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":472},["ShallowReactive",2],{"learn-\u002Flearn\u002Fthe-preflight-information-bulletin":3,"learn-nav-\u002Flearn\u002Fthe-preflight-information-bulletin":439},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"date":370,"description":371,"draft":372,"extension":373,"faqs":374,"howTo":384,"keyTakeaways":391,"meta":392,"navigation":393,"path":394,"quiz":395,"seo":422,"series":391,"seriesOrder":391,"sources":423,"stem":436,"topic":437,"__hash__":438},"learn\u002Flearn\u002Fthe-preflight-information-bulletin.md","What is in a Pre-flight Information Bulletin",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":358},"minimark",[9,27,33,38,60,80,84,87,123,146,150,159,186,199,203,215,219,222,235,238,264,271,275,278,281,312,315,319,351,355],[10,11,12,13,20,21,26],"p",{},"A Pre-flight Information Bulletin, or ",[14,15,19],"a",{"href":16,"className":17},"\u002Flearn\u002Fglossary#gt-pib",[18],"glossary-link","PIB",", is the packaged ",[14,22,25],{"href":23,"className":24},"\u002Flearn\u002Fglossary#gt-notam",[18],"NOTAM"," briefing for a flight: all the temporary changes and hazards affecting your departure, route, destination, and alternates, gathered in one place so you can read them before you go.",[28,29,30],"blockquote",{},[10,31,32],{},"This is general educational information, not operational, legal, or regulatory advice. Rules differ by authority and change over time. Always verify against current official sources and follow your operator's approved procedures.",[34,35,37],"h2",{"id":36},"what-the-pib-is","What the PIB is",[10,39,40,41,47,48,53,54,59],{},"The PIB is the standard way NOTAM information is presented to a crew before flight. It is defined in ",[14,42,46],{"href":43,"rel":44},"https:\u002F\u002Fstore.icao.int\u002Fen\u002Fannexes\u002Fannex-15",[45],"nofollow","ICAO Annex 15 (Aeronautical Information Services)",", and it is produced by national and regional aeronautical information services, such as the ",[14,49,52],{"href":50,"rel":51},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.eurocontrol.int\u002Fservice\u002Feuropean-ais-database",[45],"EUROCONTROL European AIS Database (EAD)"," and the ",[14,55,58],{"href":56,"rel":57},"https:\u002F\u002Fnats-uk.ead-it.com\u002Fcms-nats\u002Fopencms\u002Fen\u002Fhome\u002F",[45],"UK NATS AIS"," in Europe, and the equivalent services elsewhere.",[10,61,62,63,67,68,73,74,79],{},"The key idea is that a PIB is ",[64,65,66],"strong",{},"selective and temporary",". It does not repeat the permanent information in the ",[14,69,72],{"href":70,"rel":71},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.icao.int\u002Fairnavigation\u002Faeronautical-information-management",[45],"Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP)",", which tells you how an aerodrome, airway, or procedure normally is. Instead it carries the NOTAMs, the notices that change, suspend, or warn about that permanent information for a defined window. Read the ",[14,75,78],{"href":76,"className":77},"\u002Flearn\u002Fglossary#gt-aip",[18],"AIP"," to know the normal state of things; read the PIB to know what is different today.",[34,81,83],{"id":82},"what-a-pib-contains","What a PIB contains",[10,85,86],{},"A PIB gathers the NOTAMs that match your flight, typically organised by location and by the same scope categories used in any NOTAM list:",[88,89,90,97,103,109],"ul",{},[91,92,93,96],"li",{},[64,94,95],{},"Aerodrome NOTAMs"," for your departure, destination, and alternates: runway and taxiway closures, lighting, navigation-aid outages, changes to services.",[91,98,99,102],{},[64,100,101],{},"En-route NOTAMs"," along your track: airway changes, navigation-aid and communication outages.",[91,104,105,108],{},[64,106,107],{},"Navigation warnings"," near your route: temporary restricted and danger areas, military activity, hazards.",[91,110,111,114,115,118,119,122],{},[64,112,113],{},"Special notices"," where relevant, such as a ",[64,116,117],{},"SNOWTAM"," reporting runway contamination by snow or ice, or an ",[64,120,121],{},"ASHTAM"," reporting volcanic ash activity.",[10,124,125,126,129,130,133,134,137,138,141,142,145],{},"Because the same NOTAMs can be sorted in different ways, AIS services offer several ",[64,127,128],{},"types"," of bulletin: an ",[64,131,132],{},"aerodrome PIB"," for a single airfield, an ",[64,135,136],{},"area PIB"," for a region or flight information region, and a ",[64,139,140],{},"route"," or ",[64,143,144],{},"narrow-route briefing"," that follows a corridor along your planned track. The narrow-route briefing is usually the most efficient for a point-to-point flight, because it filters out NOTAMs far from where you are actually going.",[34,147,149],{"id":148},"a-worked-structure","A worked structure",[10,151,152,153,158],{},"A route PIB for a short ",[14,154,157],{"href":155,"className":156},"\u002Flearn\u002Fglossary#gt-ifr",[18],"IFR"," flight might lay out, in order:",[160,161,162,165,168,171,174,183],"ol",{},[91,163,164],{},"A header with the requested route, the validity window, and the time the bulletin was generated.",[91,166,167],{},"The departure aerodrome NOTAMs, grouped under its ICAO indicator.",[91,169,170],{},"The en-route NOTAMs for the flight information regions you cross.",[91,172,173],{},"The destination aerodrome NOTAMs.",[91,175,176,177,182],{},"The ",[14,178,181],{"href":179,"className":180},"\u002Flearn\u002Fglossary#gt-alternate-aerodrome",[18],"alternate aerodrome"," NOTAMs.",[91,184,185],{},"Any navigation warnings and special notices for the corridor.",[10,187,188,189,193,194,198],{},"Each entry is a full NOTAM in the ICAO format, with its number, Q-line, validity, and plain-language text. Reading a PIB well, then, is the same skill as reading any NOTAM, applied at scale: triage by category and time window, and read the high-impact items first. (See our guides to ",[14,190,192],{"href":191},"\u002Flearn\u002Fnotam-categories-and-time-windows","NOTAM categories and time windows"," and ",[14,195,197],{"href":196},"\u002Flearn\u002Fdecoding-notam-q-codes","decoding NOTAM Q-codes",".)",[34,200,202],{"id":201},"the-snapshot-problem","The snapshot problem",[10,204,205,206,209,210,214],{},"The single most important thing to understand about a PIB is that it is a ",[64,207,208],{},"snapshot",". It is current as of the moment it is generated, and not a moment later. NOTAMs are issued continuously, so a bulletin pulled the evening before a flight can be missing a runway closure that was published overnight. The generation time in the header is there for exactly this reason: it tells you how old the picture is. Regenerate or refresh the PIB close to departure, and treat the official AIS source as the record. This is a specific case of a general truth about every briefing product, which we cover in ",[14,211,213],{"href":212},"\u002Flearn\u002Fhow-aviation-data-goes-stale","how aviation data goes stale",".",[34,216,218],{"id":217},"self-briefing-responsibly","Self-briefing responsibly",[10,220,221],{},"For most of aviation's history, a pilot got a briefing by telephoning a briefer who read out the relevant NOTAMs and weather. Today the same information comes through self-service AIS portals, and the PIB is something you generate yourself. That convenience comes with a responsibility: it is now on you to pull a complete picture, not to rely on someone else to decide what you needed.",[10,223,224,225,230,231,234],{},"The rules put that responsibility in plain terms. In the United States, ",[14,226,229],{"href":227,"rel":228},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ecfr.gov\u002Fcurrent\u002Ftitle-14\u002Fchapter-I\u002Fsubchapter-F\u002Fpart-91\u002Fsubpart-B\u002Fsection-91.103",[45],"14 CFR 91.103"," requires the pilot in command, before beginning a flight, to become familiar with ",[64,232,233],{},"all available information"," concerning that flight. For a flight not in the vicinity of an airport, and for any IFR flight, that explicitly includes the weather reports and forecasts, the fuel required, the alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed, any known traffic delays, and the runway lengths and take-off and landing distance data. Other authorities place an equivalent duty on the commander.",[10,236,237],{},"A complete self-brief, then, is more than pulling a NOTAM bulletin. It pulls together:",[88,239,240,246,252,258],{},[91,241,176,242,245],{},[64,243,244],{},"weather",": METARs, TAFs, and the relevant SIGMETs, AIRMETs, and charts for departure, route, destination, and alternates.",[91,247,176,248,251],{},[64,249,250],{},"NOTAMs",", as a route or area PIB covering the same set of aerodromes and the airspace between.",[91,253,176,254,257],{},[64,255,256],{},"fuel and performance"," picture, including runway lengths and the distances your aircraft needs.",[91,259,176,260,263],{},[64,261,262],{},"alternates",", chosen and checked, with the fuel to reach them.",[10,265,266,267,270],{},"The discipline that ties it together is to ",[64,268,269],{},"gather it as a set, close to departure, and keep a record of what you briefed",". Because the AIS portal hands you the raw material rather than a curated summary, the judgement about completeness is yours, which is why the regulation frames it as becoming familiar with everything available, not merely with whatever the system happened to show first. In short, the convenience of self-briefing transfers the responsibility for completeness onto the pilot, and a thorough, documented self-brief is how you meet it.",[34,272,274],{"id":273},"finding-the-one-item-that-matters","Finding the one item that matters",[10,276,277],{},"The hardest part of a long bulletin is not reading it but not missing the single item that matters among the routine ones. A worked illustration: a route PIB for a short IFR flight runs to forty NOTAMs. Thirty-five are unlit cranes, grass cutting, and minor lighting notes. Buried among them are a destination runway closure for the hour of your arrival, a navigation-aid outage on your planned approach, and a temporary danger area activated along your track. Those three are the flight; the rest is noise.",[10,279,280],{},"The defence is a disciplined order of reading, applied to the whole bulletin:",[160,282,283,289,300,306],{},[91,284,285,288],{},[64,286,287],{},"Filter by your geography:"," your departure, destination, and alternates, your track, and the altitudes you will use, discarding what is far from all of them.",[91,290,291,294,295,299],{},[64,292,293],{},"Filter by your time:"," set aside NOTAMs whose validity window does not overlap your flight, while keeping any marked ",[296,297,298],"code",{},"EST"," in view because their end is only estimated.",[91,301,302,305],{},[64,303,304],{},"Read the high-impact categories first:"," runway and approach changes, airspace activations, and navigation-aid outages, before obstacle and lighting notices.",[91,307,308,311],{},[64,309,310],{},"Re-check close to departure",", because a new NOTAM can appear after you generated the bulletin.",[10,313,314],{},"Run that sequence and the three items that matter rise to the top, while the cranes and the grass cutting fall away. The skill is the same whether you read a printed PIB or a screen of NOTAMs in an app: structure the reading so the important notice cannot hide, rather than reading top to bottom and hoping to notice it. A briefing tool can mechanise the first two filters, narrowing a long bulletin to your route and your time at a tap, but the judgement of what counts as high-impact, and the responsibility to confirm the picture is complete against the official source, stay with the pilot. The tool sorts; you decide.",[34,316,318],{"id":317},"common-pitfalls","Common pitfalls",[88,320,321,327,333,339,345],{},[91,322,323,326],{},[64,324,325],{},"Treating the PIB as permanent."," It is the temporary layer over the AIP, not a replacement for it.",[91,328,329,332],{},[64,330,331],{},"Forgetting it is a snapshot."," Check the generation time and refresh before departure.",[91,334,335,338],{},[64,336,337],{},"Reading an area bulletin when a route one would do."," A narrow-route briefing filters out the noise far from your track.",[91,340,341,344],{},[64,342,343],{},"Skimming past special notices."," A SNOWTAM or ASHTAM can change the whole plan.",[91,346,347,350],{},[64,348,349],{},"Assuming completeness."," A PIB reflects what was in the system when it was built; confirm against the official source.",[34,352,354],{"id":353},"in-pilot-efb","In Pilot EFB",[10,356,357],{},"Pilot EFB pulls the NOTAMs for the airports and route you have set up and assembles them by aerodrome and area, so you have a personal, organised view much like a route PIB to work through. It records when the data was fetched, keeps the full raw text of every NOTAM with keywords highlighted, and never interprets them for you. It is a planning and organising aid, not an official aeronautical information service: the authoritative PIB is the one from your national or regional AIS, and a fresh pull needs a connection, while NOTAMs you have already saved stay readable offline. Pilot EFB is offline-first and is not a certified Electronic Flight Bag.",{"title":359,"searchDepth":360,"depth":360,"links":361},"",2,[362,363,364,365,366,367,368,369],{"id":36,"depth":360,"text":37},{"id":82,"depth":360,"text":83},{"id":148,"depth":360,"text":149},{"id":201,"depth":360,"text":202},{"id":217,"depth":360,"text":218},{"id":273,"depth":360,"text":274},{"id":317,"depth":360,"text":318},{"id":353,"depth":360,"text":354},"2026-04-28","What a PIB is, how it packages the NOTAMs for your route, the difference between aerodrome, area and route bulletins, and why it is a snapshot you have to refresh.",false,"md",[375,378,381],{"q":376,"a":377},"What is a Pre-flight Information Bulletin?","A Pre-flight Information Bulletin, or PIB, is a packaged set of the NOTAM information relevant to a flight, prepared before departure for the crew. It pulls together the NOTAMs for the departure, route, destination, and alternates so they can be reviewed in one place. The PIB is defined in ICAO Annex 15 and provided by national and regional aeronautical information services.",{"q":379,"a":380},"How is a PIB different from the AIP?","The Aeronautical Information Publication, or AIP, is the permanent reference: the lasting facts about aerodromes, airspace, and procedures. A PIB is the temporary picture: the NOTAMs that change or suspend that permanent information for a window of time. You read the AIP to know how things normally are, and the PIB to know what is different right now.",{"q":382,"a":383},"Does a PIB stay current after I generate it?","No. A PIB is a snapshot taken at the moment it is generated. NOTAMs issued after that are not in it, so a bulletin pulled the night before can be missing items by the morning. Regenerate or refresh it close to departure, and confirm against the official source before you fly.",{"name":385,"steps":386},"How to read a Pre-flight Information Bulletin",[387,388,389,390],"Filter by your geography: your departure, destination, and alternates, your track, and the altitudes you will use, discarding what is far from all of them.","Filter by your time: set aside NOTAMs whose validity window does not overlap your flight, while keeping any marked EST in view because their end is only estimated.","Read the high-impact categories first: runway and approach changes, airspace activations, and navigation-aid outages, before obstacle and lighting notices.","Re-check close to departure, because a new NOTAM can appear after you generated the bulletin.",null,{},true,"\u002Flearn\u002Fthe-preflight-information-bulletin",[396,405,414],{"q":397,"options":398,"answer":403,"explanation":404},"What best describes a Pre-flight Information Bulletin (PIB)?",[399,400,401,402],"The permanent reference describing how an aerodrome, airway, or procedure normally is","A packaged, selective set of the NOTAMs affecting a flight's departure, route, destination, and alternates","A certified Electronic Flight Bag that interprets NOTAMs for the crew","A weather product covering METARs, TAFs, SIGMETs, and AIRMETs only",1,"A PIB is the packaged NOTAM briefing for a flight, gathering the temporary changes and hazards affecting your departure, route, destination, and alternates in one place. It is selective and temporary, not the permanent AIP.",{"q":406,"options":407,"answer":412,"explanation":413},"Why must you regenerate or refresh a PIB close to departure?",[408,409,410,411],"Because the PIB is a snapshot current only as of the moment it is generated, and NOTAMs are issued continuously","Because the validity window in the header expires after exactly one hour","Because the AIP is updated every time you open the bulletin","Because a PIB only includes weather and never includes NOTAMs",0,"A PIB is current as of the moment it is generated and not a moment later, so a bulletin pulled the evening before can be missing a runway closure published overnight. Regenerate or refresh it close to departure and treat the official AIS source as the record.",{"q":415,"options":416,"answer":360,"explanation":421},"For a point-to-point flight, which type of bulletin is usually the most efficient?",[417,418,419,420],"An aerodrome PIB for a single airfield","An area PIB for a region or flight information region","A route or narrow-route briefing that follows a corridor along your planned track","The AIP entry for the destination","The narrow-route briefing is usually the most efficient for a point-to-point flight because it filters out NOTAMs far from where you are actually going.",{"title":5,"description":371},[424,426,428,431,433,434],{"label":425,"url":43},"ICAO Annex 15: Aeronautical Information Services",{"label":427,"url":70},"ICAO: the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP)",{"label":429,"url":430},"FAA: What is a NOTAM?","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.faa.gov\u002Fabout\u002Finitiatives\u002Fnotam\u002Fwhat_is_a_notam",{"label":432,"url":227},"14 CFR 91.103 (Preflight action)",{"label":52,"url":50},{"label":435,"url":56},"UK NATS Aeronautical Information Services","learn\u002Fthe-preflight-information-bulletin","Briefing","F2RHGuNSuglzj0MGGG-VNZFHmM8H7VLc-aN7Nkl9IsM",{"related":440,"newer":458,"older":466,"series":391},[441,447,453],{"path":442,"title":443,"description":444,"date":445,"topic":437,"draft":372,"minutes":446,"series":391,"seriesOrder":391},"\u002Flearn\u002Ficao-vs-iata-codes","ICAO vs IATA codes explained","The difference between the 4-letter ICAO location indicators used for flight planning and weather and the 3-letter IATA codes on your boarding pass, plus airline codes and callsigns.","2026-06-20",3,{"path":448,"title":449,"description":450,"date":451,"topic":437,"draft":372,"minutes":452,"series":391,"seriesOrder":391},"\u002Flearn\u002Funderstanding-notams","Understanding NOTAMs","What a NOTAM is, how the ICAO format and Q-line are built, the difference between NOTAMN, NOTAMR and NOTAMC, and how to deal with NOTAM overload.","2026-06-15",4,{"path":454,"title":455,"description":456,"date":457,"topic":437,"draft":372,"minutes":452,"series":391,"seriesOrder":391},"\u002Flearn\u002Foffline-first-preflight-briefing","The offline-first preflight briefing","What the rules require you to check before flight, how to build a self-brief, and the honest difference between offline-first and working fully offline.","2026-06-11",{"path":459,"title":460,"description":461,"date":462,"topic":463,"draft":372,"minutes":464,"series":465,"seriesOrder":403},"\u002Flearn\u002Fduty-time-flight-time-and-fdp","Duty time, flight time and the flight duty period","The four terms at the heart of every fatigue rule, how the maximum flight duty period is built from report time and sectors, and how EASA and the FAA each handle extensions.","2026-04-30","Regulations",7,"duty-rest-and-flight-time-limits",{"path":467,"title":468,"description":469,"date":470,"topic":471,"draft":372,"minutes":464,"series":391,"seriesOrder":391},"\u002Flearn\u002Fsetting-personal-weather-minimums","Setting personal weather minimums","What personal minimums are, how to build a set from ceiling, visibility and wind, and how to use the PAVE and IMSAFE checklists to keep your own limits honest.","2026-04-25","Weather",1781989192289]