ICAO Flight Plans

If the international aviation bureaucracy were ever mated with a one-size-fits-all computer program, the progeny might well be the ICAO International Flight Plan. Everything anyone might wish to know has a place on this form. But, in case theres an obscure bit of trivia without a special code or box in which to put it, theres a way to handle that. If Wilbur and Orville had been faced with anything like this, wed still be…

Editorial Staff

Friday, August 01, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The ICAO International Flight Plan is a complex, comprehensive form becoming mandatory for RNAV routes or international flights and is expected to eventually replace the traditional US flight plan for all flights.
While some sections are straightforward, specific items like aircraft designation, route formatting, and particularly the equipment codes (Items 10 and 18) are highly detailed and can be challenging to complete accurately.
Accurate completion of equipment codes requires deep knowledge of avionics capabilities, software versions, and pilot qualifications, a task so intricate that even manufacturers express uncertainty.

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If the international aviation bureaucracy were ever mated with a one-size-fits-all computer program, the progeny might well be the ICAO International Flight Plan. Everything anyone might wish to know has a place on this form. But, in case there’s an obscure bit of trivia without a special code or box in which to put it, there’s a way to handle that. If Wilbur and Orville had been faced with anything like this, we’d still be looking wistfully to the sky.