Notice of Presumed Hazard

What is a Notice of Presumed Hazard?

A Notice of Presumed Hazard is a determination made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stating that the proposed construction reported on FAA Form 7460-1 (Notice of Proposed Construction or Alteration) is presumed to be an object that will affect navigable airspace.

The Notice of Presumed Hazard outlines the reason for the determination, offers a resolution and provides response time limits.

Some of the reasons cited by the FAA for the issuance of a Notice of Presumed Hazard are that the structure height exceeds an FAR Part 77 obstruction standard and will penetrate an airport’s imaginary surfaces, that the structure interferes with a terminal flight procedure or that the structure interferes with a navigational aid, surveillance system, communications facility or has RF energy interference issues.

If the offered resolution for the Notice of Presumed Hazard is not tenable for the sponsor, options available might include, terminating the Notice of Proposed Construction or Alteration and to re-file with different structure data such as height and location or attempt to mitigate the offered resolution with the FAA.

The difficulty for the FAA specialist issuing the Notice of Presumed Hazard is that often the existing database is incomplete and they have not considered mitigating factors such as the effects of existing structures, terrain or other pertinent issues. 

Once a sponsor has received a Notice of Presumed Hazard, it would be prudent to engage an aviation consultant who has extensive expertise in developing innovative and workable solutions that will either allow them to construct their structure as planned or will mitigate the FAA’s issues resulting in a favorable determination.

Williams Aviation Consultants Inc. has been very successful in receiving a favorable determination from the FAA for our clients that had previously received a Notice of Presumed Hazard.