ATC Flight Plan — Page 242, Lesson 251

I want to walk you through the ATC Flight Plan items, starting from Item K and working through to Item Q. These are the fields you will fill in when you file a flight plan for an IFR or VFR flight under ATC control. Let’s begin with Item K: DAYS OF OPERATION. This is a simple scheduling field. You insert a number corresponding to the day of the week in the appropriate column, where Monday equals 1. For any day on which the flight does not operate, you insert 0 in that column. So if you fly only on Mondays, you put a 1 in the Monday column and 0 in every other day column. Item L: AIRCRAFT IDENTIFICATION — this corresponds to Item 7 of the ICAO flight plan. Here you insert the aircraft identification that will be used for the flight. That is the registration or call sign that ATC will use to talk to you. Item M: TYPE OF AIRCRAFT AND WAKE TURBULENCE CATEGORY — this corresponds to Item 9 of the ICAO flight plan. You insert the appropriate ICAO designator as specified in ICAO Doc 8643, which is the document that lists all aircraft type designators. Then you insert a wake turbulence category indicator: H, M, or L. Let me define each category precisely. H stands for HEAVY — this indicates an aircraft type with a maximum certificated take-off mass of 136 000 kg or more. M stands for MEDIUM — this indicates an aircraft type with a maximum certificated take-off mass of less than 136 000 kg but more than 7000 kg. L stands for LIGHT — this indicates an aircraft type with a maximum certificated take-off mass of 7000 kg or less. So you need to know your aircraft’s maximum certificated take-off mass to assign the correct category. Item N: DEPARTURE AERODROME AND TIME — this corresponds to Item 13 of the ICAO flight plan. You insert the location indicator of the departure aerodrome — that is the four-letter ICAO code, for example EGLL for London Heathrow. Then you insert the off-block time, which is defined as the estimated time that the aircraft will commence movement associated with departure. That means the time you expect to start pushing back or taxiing away from the stand. Item O: ROUTE — this corresponds to Item 15 of the ICAO flight plan. It has three sub-parts. First, cruising speed — you insert the true airspeed for the first part of the whole cruising portion of the flight, in accordance with Item 15(a) of the ICAO flight plan. Second, cruising level — you insert the planned cruising level for the first or whole portion of the route, in accordance with Item 15(b). Third, route — you insert the entire route in accordance with Item 15(c). So you are giving ATC your speed, your altitude, and the full routing. Item P: DESTINATION AERODROME AND TOTAL ESTIMATED ELAPSED TIME — this corresponds to Item 16 of the ICAO flight plan. You insert the location indicator of the destination aerodrome — again the four-letter ICAO code. Then you insert the total elapsed time, which is the estimated time from off-block at departure to on-block at destination. Item Q: REMARKS — here you insert items of information as required by the appropriate ATS authority, normally notified in Item 18 of the ICAO flight plan, and any other information pertinent to the flight that is of concern to ATS. So this is where you put additional details like equipment, endurance, or special handling requests. That covers Items K through Q of the ATC flight plan. Each field has a specific ICAO flight plan item number it corresponds to, and each has a precise definition you must follow when filing.