THE NOTAM SYS FAILED AN SMA PLT.

Narrative

I WAS ON AN IFR FLT PLAN INTO THE BALTIMORE AREA. TSTMS FROM A COLD FRONT WERE APCHING FROM THE W. MY FLT PLAN CALLED FOR ME TO PROCEED NNE TO A POINT SOME 20 NM E OF BALTIMORE; AND THEN FLY W. I ASKED PATUXENT APCH FOR DIRECT NOTTINGHAM VOR; WHICH WOULD CUT OFF THE DOG-LEG. I HAD TUNED IN NOTTINGHAM; AND WAS RECEIVING THE HIWAS AND DME SIGNALS AS WELL AS NAV SIGNALS. I THOUGHT I HEARD THE NAVAID IDENT. PATUXENT CLRED ME DIRECT NOTTINGHAM. ON MY WAY TO NOTTINGHAM; I TUNED IN THE BALTIMORE VOR AND IDENTED IT; AND COPIED THE ATIS INFO. PATUXENT APCH TURNED ME OVER TO ANDREWS APCH. ANDREWS ASKED ME HOW I WAS NAVING; AND I TOLD THEM DIRECT NOTTINGHAM. ANDREWS INFORMED ME THAT NOTTINGHAM VOR WAS OTS. I ASKED FOR; AND RECEIVED; DIRECT BALTIMORE VOR. WHEN I PLANNED MY RTE AND CALLED FLT SVC; NOTTINGHAM VOR WAS NOT INCLUDED IN MY FLT PLAN. WHEN I GOT ON THE GND; I CHKED AND NOTTINGHAM WAS LISTED IN THE D-NOTAMS AS OTS. FLT SVC WON'T TELL ME ABOUT OTS NAVAIDS NOT ON MY PLAN UNLESS I ASK; AND THEN I NEED TO KNOW WHAT FILES THE VARIOUS NAVAIDS ARE IN. I WILL KEEP THIS EXPERIENCE IN MIND; AND ASK ABOUT POTENTIAL SHORTCUTS IN THE FUTURE. IT WOULD BE USEFUL; HOWEVER; IF THE ENRTE NAVAID DATA WERE MORE ACCESSIBLE. I AM CURIOUS WHY PATUXENT APCH DIDN'T KNOW THAT A VOR 25 NM AWAY WAS OTS; BUT ULTIMATELY IT'S MY RESPONSIBILITY. I JUST WISH INFO LIKE THIS WASN'T SO HARD TO COME BY. I WILL ALSO BE MORE CAREFUL IDENTING NAVAIDS IN THE FUTURE; SPECIFICALLY LISTENING FOR BOTH THE DME AND VOR IDENTS. THEN; IF I DO HEAR THEM; I CAN INFORM ATC THAT I DID HEAR THE IDENTS; AND BE MORE CONFIDENT IN MY DECISION; AND NOT HAVE TO FILE AN ASRS FORM. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: THE RPTR IS BASED NEAR OTT; AND WAS FLYING IN 'HIS BACKYARD.' HE USES COMPUSERVE FOR HIS FLT PLANNING AND NOTAM SVC. HE MAY NOT HAVE CHKED THE OTT NOTAMS SPECIFICALLY BEFORE THIS FLT AND THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT OTT NAV FUNCTION WENT DOWN WHILE HE WAS AIRBORNE. HE IS NOW AWARE OF THE FAA SAFETY HOTLINE. HE AGREES THAT HE IS NOT THE FIRST PERSON TO HAVE THE NOTAM SYS FAIL HIM.