Brave New World

Toward the back of the magazine youre holding in your hand, in our Quick Turns department, theres a news item about the FAA formally transitioning to the ICAO-standard/international flight plan form for all domestic non-military operations. If youve been paying attention over the last few years, as we have, youll be happy to know a process that has seen several earlier deadlines come and go seems to have finally staggered across the finish line. As of August 27, the international flight plan form is the law of the land, so to speak.

Editorial Staff

Tuesday, October 01, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA has officially transitioned to the ICAO-standard flight plan form for all domestic non-military operations, effective August 27, after several previous delays.
The upcoming January 1, 2020, ADS-B mandate has raised significant privacy concerns regarding aircraft tracking, prompting efforts to anonymize broadcast data.
For aircraft equipped with 978 MHz UAT, the FAA is expected to publish guidance clarifying anonymous mode operations, including for VFR flight plans.
For 1090ES-equipped aircraft, the FAA is considering a solution providing operators with secondary, temporary ICAO codes to prevent direct linking of ADS-B data to specific aircraft tail numbers.

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Toward the back of the magazine you’re holding in your hand, in our Quick Turns department, there’s a news item about the FAA formally transitioning to the ICAO-standard/international flight plan form for all domestic non-military operations. If you’ve been paying attention over the last few years, as we have, you’ll be happy to know a process that has seen several earlier deadlines come and go seems to have finally staggered across the finish line. As of August 27, the international flight plan form is the law of the land, so to speak.

In our October 2016 issue, we wrote, “Beginning in early 2017, [the ICAO form] will be necessary for filing domestic flight plans, too, both IFR and VFR, as well as DVFR and for the Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) surrounding Washington, D.C. The switchover was to occur earlier this year, then it was to go into effect on October 1.”