Narrative:

The crew showed for flight and reviewed paperwork to include 42 pages of weather and NOTAM's. The crew viewed [a] NOTAM valid dates 2-SEP-16 to 30-nov-16. The NOTAM warned of the 'possible existence of serious risk to the safety of international civil flights operating in portions of the baghdad; damascus and tehran fir's'. The captain called flight control and spoke with our dispatcher and asked for clarification and risk assessment. She was extremely helpful and called the ATC national operations manager for further information. They had no indications of impending issues. The captain asked why we had the NOTAM if it did not directly apply. She referred the captain to the [company] operations center where the captain spoke with the duty asst. Chief pilot. He reiterated that there was no immediate concern and that other flights had been recently operating in the area consistently with no issue. He told the captain to disregard the NOTAM. We learn from day one that NOTAM's are issued for a reason; usually directly related to safety of flight. This NOTAM clearly spoke of a serious risk to the safety of international civil flights. If this is the case we should not be operating in this area. If the NOTAM is not valid or should be disregarded; it should not be published in the paperwork. In retrospect maybe we should have asked for an aeronautics research and technology roundtable (artr) to strike the applicable NOTAM.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD-11 pilot reported he was concerned with a NOTAM that specified 'existence of a serious risk' along their planned route in the Middle East; but was told by Company personnel to disregard the NOTAM.

Narrative: The crew showed for flight and reviewed paperwork to include 42 pages of weather and NOTAM's. The crew viewed [a] NOTAM valid dates 2-SEP-16 to 30-NOV-16. The NOTAM warned of the 'Possible existence of serious risk to the safety of international civil flights operating in portions of the Baghdad; Damascus and Tehran FIR's'. The Captain called flight control and spoke with our Dispatcher and asked for clarification and risk assessment. She was extremely helpful and called the ATC National Operations Manager for further information. They had no indications of impending issues. The Captain asked why we had the NOTAM if it did not directly apply. She referred the Captain to the [Company] Operations Center where the Captain spoke with the duty Asst. Chief Pilot. He reiterated that there was no immediate concern and that other flights had been recently operating in the area consistently with no issue. He told the Captain to disregard the NOTAM. We learn from day one that NOTAM's are issued for a reason; usually directly related to safety of flight. This NOTAM clearly spoke of a SERIOUS RISK TO THE SAFETY OF INTERNATIONAL CIVIL FLIGHTS. If this is the case we should not be operating in this area. If the NOTAM is not valid or should be disregarded; it should not be published in the paperwork. In retrospect maybe we should have asked for an Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable (ARTR) to strike the applicable NOTAM.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.