Z Other equipment carried (See Note 2) — Page 233, Lesson 236

I want to walk you through the next section of the ATC flight plan form. We've already covered the basic identification and equipment fields, and now we're looking at the detailed breakdown of how to fill in Items 13 and 15 — the departure aerodrome and time, and the route. Let's start with Item 13: Departure Aerodrome and Time. This field takes exactly 8 characters. The first part is the departure aerodrome identifier. Normally, you insert the ICAO four-letter location indicator of the departure aerodrome — for example, EGLL for London Heathrow. If the aerodrome doesn't have an assigned location indicator, you insert ZZZZ instead, and then in Item 18 you must specify the name of the aerodrome preceded by DEP/. There's a special case: if the flight plan is being received from an aircraft that is already in flight — for example, if it's filing a change of plan while airborne — you insert AFIL in this field. Then, in Item 18, you specify the ICAO four-letter location indicator of the ATS unit from which supplementary flight plan data can be obtained, again preceded by DEP/. Now, immediately after that departure aerodrome identifier — without a space — you insert the time. For a flight plan submitted before departure, this is the estimated off-block time. That's the time you expect to start pushing back or taxiing from the stand. For a flight plan received from an aircraft in flight, you insert the actual or estimated time over the first point of the route to which the flight plan applies. Moving on to Item 15: Route. This is where you describe the planned path. The format is very specific. First, you insert the first cruising speed and the first cruising level, with no space between them. Then, following an arrow symbol, you insert the route description. Let's break down the cruising speed. It has a maximum of 5 characters. You must insert the True Airspeed for the first or the whole of the cruising portion of the flight. You have three options for expressing it: - Kilometres per hour: expressed as the letter K followed by 4 figures. For example, K0830 means 830 kilometres per hour. - Knots: expressed as the letter N followed by 4 figures. For example, N0485 means 485 knots. - Mach Number: when prescribed by the appropriate ATS authority, expressed as the letter M followed by 3 figures to the nearest hundredth of a Mach unit. For example, M082 means Mach 0.82. Now the cruising level, also a maximum of 5 characters. You insert the planned cruising level for the first or the whole portion of the route. Again, three options: - Flight Level: expressed as the letter F followed by 3 figures. For example, F085 means Flight Level 85, and F330 means Flight Level 330. - Standard Metric Level in tens of metres: when prescribed by the appropriate ATS authorities, expressed as the letter S followed by 4 figures. For example, S1130 means 11,300 metres. So, to give you a concrete example of how Item 15 starts: you might see something like N0485F330 — that means a true airspeed of 485 knots and a planned cruising level of Flight Level 330, all run together with no spaces. Then the arrow, then the route description. That's the core of how you fill in Items 13 and 15. The key takeaway is precision: every character matters, the format is rigid, and the information you provide here directly shapes the ATC clearance and routing you'll receive.