What is NATOPS?

NATOPS, the Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization program, sets standard procedures for naval aircraft and related aviation activities. The Navy developed it in 1959, and the Navy's history command credits it with substantially reducing naval aviation accidents. For anyone who writes, maintains, or checks naval aviation publications, the program has three working parts: manuals maintained through conferences, a single release authority for changes, and evaluations that cover both people and facilities.

Where NATOPS came from

The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) credits the program to James L. Holloway III, who later served as Chief of Naval Operations. The command's biography page for him, published in November 2019, says he developed NATOPS in 1959. It adds that the program was still in effect more than 55 years later and has been credited with substantially reducing naval aviation accidents. The credit appears without accident-rate figures.

A first introduction followed in 1960. NHHC's memorial page for Rear Adm. Edward L. Feightner records that in February 1960 he served a short tour as Standardization Officer for Carrier Replacement Air Group Four, and that the tour included the first introduction of NATOPS.

Aircraft manuals and a general instruction

NATOPS is not one document. The NAVAIR safety page shows the structure from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) side. NAVAIR is an Advisory Group member for every Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, and NATOPS conferences are held for individual aircraft. Each program office appoints a Class Desk to represent NAVAIR at those conferences.

A second group of documents sits beside the aircraft manuals. A separate NAVAIR coordinator represents the command on the general instruction, designated OPNAVINST 3710.7, "and other generic manuals." Among the documents the page lists is NAVAIR 00-80T-114, the NATOPS Air Traffic Control Facilities Manual, which shows that NATOPS covers facilities as well as aircraft.

A Navy notice in the Federal Register, dated May 25, 2004, gives the title of the general instruction as NATOPS General Flight and Operating Instructions and cites it as authority for two Navy records systems.

One office releases every change

The NAVAIR safety page names one office as the center of the process. AIR-4.0P is the NATOPS Product Administrator for the entire program. It is a required representative at every NATOPS conference, and it is the release authority for all NATOPS changes.

All recommendations for NATOPS manuals and for OPNAVINST 3710.7 are submitted through the AIR-4.0P website. The office that receives the recommendations is the same one that releases the changes.

A 2020 Naval Safety Center story shows a change from the other end. In its report on the fiscal year (FY) 2019 Grampaw Pettibone awards, posted May 15, 2020, the Naval Safety Center describes an over-pressurization event during a flight in May 2019. The incident led to a new NATOPS procedure to identify and respond to over-pressurization more quickly.

Evaluation reaches people and facilities

NATOPS also produces records about the people who follow it. The 2004 Federal Register notice describes a Navy records system named the NATOPS Flight Personnel Training/Qualification Jacket. The notice states the purpose as a consolidated record of an air crewman's training status and readiness. The records listed for the system include NATOPS examination records and NATOPS evaluation reports. As of that notice, the system covered aeronautically designated Navy and Marine Corps officers and enlisted members.

Evaluation is not limited to aircrew. A March 2020 story from Naval Air Station Pensacola reports that the NATOPS program periodically evaluates Sailors at an air traffic control facility. The evaluations look at the facility's readiness and daily operations, including whether controllers know their material while working their positions.

What to check

• Which NATOPS document is in question: an aircraft manual, the general instruction OPNAVINST 3710.7, or a facilities manual such as NAVAIR 00-80T-114?
• Which revision of OPNAVINST 3710.7 is cited? The Federal Register notice that gives its title is dated May 25, 2004.
• Where was a proposed change sent, and has AIR-4.0P, the release authority, released it?
• Does a statement about NATOPS and accidents cite a rate or only the credit? NHHC gives the credit without figures.
• Does a procedure attributed to NATOPS name the manual and the change that added it?

Azcuna's ELLMENT, the E-2D Large Language Model Entity, was proposed to NAVAIR PMA-231 under Navy SBIR Phase I topic DON26BZ01-NV010. The prototype, built at private expense on publicly available doctrine, answers with a page-level citation and refuses when the documents do not support an answer. The proposal has been submitted.

Sources

1. 1Admiral James L. Holloway III · Naval History and Heritage Command
2. 2Fair Winds RADM Edward Lewis “Whitey” Feightner · Naval History and Heritage Command
3. 3Safety · Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
4. 4Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records · Department of the Navy, Federal Register (May 25, 2004)
5. 5FY 19 Grampaw Pettibone Award Winners Named · Naval Safety Center, via DVIDS
6. 6Air Traffic Control Sailors Successfully Complete NATOPS Evaluations · Naval Air Station Pensacola, via DVIDS