AN INST RATED PLT FLYING A PA28 INTO STEAD; NV; LANDS HIS ACFT WHILE A NOTAM IS IN EFFECT CLOSING THE ARPT.

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ON SEP/XA/99; I WAS ON A VFR XCOUNTRY FLT FROM GRASS VALLEY; CA; TO ROCK SPRINGS; WY. WE PLANNED TO MAKE REFUELING STOPS AT RENO STEAD ARPT AND AT ELKO; NV. I RECEIVED A COMPLETE (STANDARD) WX BRIEFING FROM FSS FOR THE ENTIRE FLT FROM THE RANCHO MURIETTA FSS AT APPROX XA00 ON THE DAY OF THE FLT. SINCE I WAS AWARE OF THE SPECIAL EVENT TAKING PLACE SOME TIME PREVIOUSLY; I SPECIFICALLY ASKED THE BRIEFER TO INCLUDE ANY NOTAMS OR RESTRS AFFECTING STEAD FIELD. I DID NOT CONSIDER CONTACTING RENO FSS BECAUSE AS AN IAP FIELD; I EXPECTED NOTAMS CONCERNING TEMPORARY TWRS AND ARPT CLOSURE TO BE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED TO OTHER FSS'S. THE BRIEFER SPECIFICALLY INDICATED THAT THERE WERE NO NOTAMS FOR STEAD FIELD WHATSOEVER; SO I PROCEEDED WITH MY PLAN TO USE STEAD FIELD AS A REFUELING STOP. UPON ARR IN THE STEAD AREA; WE WERE GIVEN AN ARPT ADVISORY ON THE UNICOM FREQ (122.8) AND TOLD TO RPT DOWNWIND. WE MADE POS RPTS IN THE PATTERN AND LANDED UNEVENTFULLY. APPROX 1 1/2 HRS LATER; WE PREPARED FOR TKOF AND DID NOT MAKE AN ADDITIONAL CALL TO FSS. DURING OUR FUELING AND STAY AT THE FBO; THERE WAS NO COM NOTICED BY ME THAT A TEMPORARY TWR WAS IN OP; OR THAT THE ARPT OPS WERE BEING RESTR. UPON START-UP; I CALLED UP THE UNICOM FREQ (122.8) WITH MY INTENTION OF TAXIING FOR TKOF; BUT RECEIVED NO RESPONSE. I MADE 4 ADDITIONAL CALLS ON UNICOM ANNOUNCING MY INTENT AND POS ON THE AIRFIELD WITH NO RESPONSE. ONE OF THOSE CALLS WAS FROM MY HAND-HELD WHICH CONFIRMED THAT MY RADIOS WERE ALL FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. AT THIS TIME I BELIEVED THAT NON TWR OPS WERE IN PROGRESS; AND SOMEBODY FORGOT TO MONITOR THE UNICOM FREQ AT THE ARPT. THERE WAS SOME LOW LEVEL CIRCUIT FLYING TAKING PLACE; SO I WAITED ABOUT 7-8 MINS UNTIL THERE WAS A BREAK IN THE TFC; AND THEN TOOK OFF ON RWY 8 MAKING POS RPT PRIOR TO AND DURING DEP ON 122.8. AFTER DEP; I WAS CONTACTED ON 122.8 WITH THE INFO THAT I VIOLATED FAA RESTR AIRSPACE; AND THAT THE ARPT WAS CLOSED UNTIL XG00. I PROVIDED MY FULL CALL SIGN AND HOME BASE TO THE PERSON ON 122.8 AND WAS TOLD TO 'HAVE A GOOD FLT.' WHEN I QUERIED THE PERSON ON THE UNICOM WHY THIS INFO WAS NOT AVAILABLE DURING MY 5 PREVIOUS CALLS ON THIS FREQ; HIS RESPONSE WAS THAT THE CLOSURE WAS INDICATED ON THE AWOS FREQ. I IMMEDIATELY SWITCHED OVER TO AWOS AT THIS TIME; AND THE RECORDING DID INDICATE THAT A TEMPORARY TWR WAS IN OP ALL DAY. IT; HOWEVER; DID NOT INDICATE A UNIQUE TWR FREQ; NOR DID IT MENTION THE ARPT BEING CLOSED UNTIL XG00. THIS INCIDENT REINFORCED MY BELIEF THAT PLTS SOMETIMES HAVE TO GO TO EXTREME LENGTHS TO GET 'ALL AVAILABLE INFO' ABOUT A FLT. EXCEPT FOR NOT CHKING AWOS PRIOR TO DEP; I FELT THAT THE STEPS I TOOK TO OBTAIN INFO ABOUT THIS FLT WERE WHAT A REASONABLE PLT WOULD DO. MY CONCERN IS THAT AFTER CHKING WITH FSS; ON THE RAMP; AND ON CTAF ON DEP; I STILL DID NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT INFO ABOUT ARPT CLOSURE MEANS THAT A POTENTIALLY UNSAFE CONDITION EXISTS FOR OTHER TRANSIENT PLTS. MY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION ARE THE FOLLOWING: 1) PLT EDUCATION ABOUT THE CRITICAL FUNCTION OF AWOS FREQS; WHERE IT DOES NOT PROVIDE JUST WX INFO; BUT INFO ABOUT AIRSPACE RESTRS NOT DISTRIBUTED BY NOTAMS. 2) FSS TO PROVIDE BETTER DISTANT NOTAMS ABOUT ARPT CLOSURE; TEMPORARY TWR; ETC -- ESPECIALLY WHEN CONCERNING A HIGH PROFILE ARPT SUCH AS STEAD FIELD; AND ESPECIALLY WHEN THE FIELD CONTAINS INST APCHS. 3) IF THE TEMPORARY TWR AT STEAD RELIES ON AWOS TO DISTRIBUTE OPS INFO; THE RPT COULD BE MUCH MORE INFORMATIVE WITH ARPT CLOSURE TIMES; AND FREQ INFO FOR PLTS TO CONTACT TWR WITH QUESTIONS. 4) ARPT MGMNT COULD BE PROGRESSIVE IN PLACING HIGHLY VISIBLE NOTICES TO PLTS ABOUT RESTRS IN OPS. SECONDLY; HAVING GND PERSONNEL BE INFORMED DURING REFUELING TRANSIENT ACFT JUST TO ENSURE EVERYONE IS AWARE OF THE RESTR. 5) MOST IMPORTANTLY; BECAUSE IF RECOMMENDATIONS 1-4 STILL FAIL; UNICOM FREQ SHOULD BE CONTINUALLY MONITORED BY APPROPRIATE STAFF DURING PERIODS OF ARPT CLOSURE OR SPECIAL ACTIVITY. THIS WOULD ALLOW ANY UNWARY PLT TO BE TURNED AWAY BEFORE CAUSING A POTENTIALLYDANGEROUS AIRSPACE TRANSGRESSION.