ATC Flight Plan — Page 238, Lesson 242

I want to walk you through the ATC Flight Plan form, specifically the remaining items that define the flight rules, cruise climb, destination, alternates, and other information. Let's start with the change of flight rules. Item 15 of the flight plan includes a field for a change of flight rules, which can be up to three characters. You enter the point at which the change is planned, expressed exactly as you would a position in the route, followed by a space and then one of two indicators: "VFR" if you're changing from IFR to VFR, or "IFR" if you're changing from VFR to IFR. For example, "LN VFR" means at the point "LN" you'll switch from IFR to VFR. Another example: "LN/N0284A050 IFR" means at that point and altitude, you'll switch from VFR to IFR. Next is the cruise climb field, which can be up to 28 characters. This is used when you plan a cruise climb—a gradual climb during the cruise phase rather than stepping up in discrete altitude blocks. The format starts with the letter "C" followed by an oblique stroke. Then you enter the point where the cruise climb is planned to start, expressed exactly as a position, followed by another oblique stroke. Then you enter the speed to be maintained during the cruise climb, expressed exactly as in the speed field from earlier—like "M082" for Mach 0.82. Then, without a space, you enter the two levels defining the layer to be occupied during the cruise climb, each level expressed exactly as before—for example, "F290" for flight level 290, then "F350" for flight level 350. Alternatively, instead of a second level, you can enter the level above which the cruise climb is planned, followed by the letters "PLUS" without a space—so "F290PLUS" means you'll climb from flight level 290 upward. Examples given: "C/48N050W/M082F290F350" means cruise climb starting at 48 north 050 west, at Mach 0.82, from flight level 290 to flight level 350. "C/48N050W/M082F290PLUS" means from flight level 290 and above. "C/52N050W/M220F580F620" is another example at a different speed and levels. Now let's move to Item 16: Destination Aerodrome and Total Estimated Elapsed Time, plus Alternate Aerodrome(s). For the destination aerodrome and total estimated elapsed time, you have up to eight characters. You insert the ICAO four-letter location indicator of the destination aerodrome—for example, EGLL for London Heathrow—followed immediately, without a space, by the total estimated elapsed time. The total estimated elapsed time is the time from takeoff to the estimated time of arrival at the destination. If no ICAO location indicator has been assigned to the destination aerodrome, you insert "ZZZZ" followed, without a space, by the total estimated elapsed time, and then in Item 18 you must specify the name of the aerodrome preceded by "DEST/". There's also a note: for a flight plan received from an aircraft already in flight, the total estimated elapsed time is the estimated time from the first point of the route to which the flight plan applies—so it's the remaining time from that point onward. For alternate aerodromes, you have up to four characters per alternate. You insert the ICAO four-letter location indicator of not more than two alternate aerodromes, separated by a space. If no location indicator has been assigned to an alternate aerodrome, you insert "ZZZZ" and then in Item 18 you specify the name of the aerodrome preceded by "ALTN/". Finally, Item 18: Other Information. This is a free-text field where you insert "0" (zero) if there is no other information to report. Otherwise, you insert any necessary information in the preferred sequence shown in the form of an appropriate indicator followed by an oblique stroke and the information to be recorded. One example given is "EET/". This stands for "Estimated Elapsed Time" to significant points or FIR boundary designators. You list the significant points or FIR boundary designators and the accumulated estimated elapsed times to those points or FIR boundaries, when prescribed by air navigation agreements or by the appropriate ATS authority. For example, "EET/CAP0745 XYZ0830" means the estimated elapsed time to the point CAP is 0745, and to XYZ is 0830. Another example: "EET/EINN0204" means to the FIR boundary EINN the estimated elapsed time is 0204. Another indicator is "RIF/", which stands for "Re-clearance In Flight". This contains the route details to the revised destination aerodrome, followed by the ICAO four-letter location indicator of that aerodrome. The revised route is subject to re-clearance in flight—meaning you need ATC approval to proceed on that revised routing. Examples: "RIF/DTA HEC KLAX" means the revised route goes via DTA and HEC to Los Angeles. "RIF/ESP G94 CLA APPH" means via ESP, airway G94, CLA, and then the approach to the destination. So to summarize: Item 15 handles change of flight rules and cruise climb. Item 16 handles destination and alternates. Item 18 handles all other information using standardized indicators like EET/ and RIF/. Each field has strict formatting rules for characters, separators, and the use of ZZZZ when no ICAO code exists.