Civilian Airports / Field Conditions
Field Condition (FICON) Reporting
TALPA field-condition reporting scored per runway third, with FICON NOTAM text ready the moment it's filed.
A runway condition call has to survive being read by someone who wasn't there
TALPA asks for more than one word. A real field-condition report is three separate calls, one for each third of the runway, each scored on the same 0-to-6 scale, plus whatever contaminant is on the pavement and how deep it is. Getting all of that right over the radio, then writing it up afterward from memory, is where a precise scale turns into a guess.
And a report only matters once it becomes a FICON NOTAM in the exact format a pilot expects, not a paraphrase of what got called in. Two people separately writing down the same condition is two chances for the numbers to stop agreeing.
Every runway carries its own current call
Presumed dry until told otherwise
A runway with nothing filed against it reads as its default, best-case condition rather than a blank nobody can act on, so silence never gets mistaken for missing data.
Scored per third, not as one number
A report grades the touchdown, midpoint, and rollout thirds separately on the Runway Condition Code scale, with the contaminant and its depth captured alongside each one.
The FICON NOTAM text is ready when the report is
Filing the report produces the NOTAM text in the format it has to go out in, so nobody retypes the same three numbers a second time to get the word out.
A new report replaces the old one immediately
Issuing a report updates that runway's current status right away, so anyone checking sees the report actually in effect, not an earlier shift's call.
What it automates
One scale, agreed to mean the same thing every time
Every report uses the same 0-to-6 Runway Condition Code per third, so a low score on one report means exactly what a low score means on the next.
No report doesn't mean no answer
A runway with nothing filed reads as presumed dry at the best code, an honest default instead of a blank spot nobody can act on.
The NOTAM text isn't a second draft
FICON NOTAM text comes straight out of the report someone already filed, not retyped from a radio call after the fact.
Straight answers
What is RwyCC, and how is it captured?
The Runway Condition Code, scored 0 to 6 for each third of the runway (touchdown, midpoint, rollout), along with the contaminant present and its depth, all captured together in the same report.
What shows for a runway with nothing reported?
Presumed dry at RwyCC 6/6/6, the best code across all three thirds, until someone issues a report that says otherwise.
Does this generate the FICON NOTAM?
Yes. Filing a field condition report produces the FICON NOTAM text in the format it needs to go out in, ready alongside the report itself.
What happens when conditions change again?
Issuing a new report replaces the current one immediately, so whoever checks next sees the report actually in effect, not an earlier call.