As of late 2021 and continuing through 2026, NOTAM officially stands for "Notice to Air Missions." For decades prior, the acronym stood for "Notice to Airmen," but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) changed the terminology to be more inclusive and to reflect the growing presence of uncrewed aircraft (drones) in the National Airspace System. A NOTAM is a time-critical notice containing information that is essential to personnel concerned with flight operations but not known far enough in advance to be publicized by other means. They cover a wide range of "abnormal" statuses, such as closed runways, out-of-service navigation aids (VORs), temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) due to VIP movement or space launches, and hazards like tall cranes near an airport. Pilots are legally required to review all relevant NOTAMs as part of their pre-flight briefing. In 2026, the FAA has modernized the NOTAM system to make the language less cryptic, moving away from all-caps contractions toward a more readable format to enhance safety and prevent pilots from missing critical alerts buried in a "wall of text."