Flight Planning Services
Many services for flight planning provide ICAO options. I played around with a couple to see which ones are the most user friendly and caught errors. All of these services are free.
IFR Magazine
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ICAO Flight Plan Update
It only takes a cursory look at an ICAO flight plan form to get cranial blood-vessel spasms and the resultant migraine. Who starts a form at item seven? Yes, you really have to look up aircraft type codes in ICAO DOC 8643. Can equipment codes really use the whole alphabet, indecipherable by humans? Do they really have only one remarks box that serves as an explanation for nearly every other box on the whole form?Despite the forms flaws and seemingly unfathomable complexities, the FAA is committed to drag U.S. pilots to the ICAO flight plan. Since the ICAO form is already required for flights utilizing performance based navigation (PBN), flying in RVSM airspace, utilizing ADS-B services, and flights outside the U.S., everybody else might as well share the pain.
Famous Pavement
Few strips of pavement have made it to the big screen. Theres Route 66, the Pacific Coast Highway and at least one runway: Van Nuys Runway 16R. Brian Terwilliger did some pioneering hi-def film work on his terrific film of the same name. You should definitely see his latest, Living in the Age of Airplanes. That way you can tell me if its any good. If you decide to fly the ILS into that same runway, however, put down your popcorn and take a close look at the notes crowding the plate like extras crammed round the tables of free food.
Fowled Deck
All those colorful runway markings, lights, and signs dont mean a thing to members of the animal kingdom other than humans. When our furry, scaled, and feathered friends make their way onto an active runway, the results can be…unpredictable.
Revere the Runway
Everyones sensitive about something-weight gain or receding hairlines, for instance, or the things you shouldnt talk about at family dinners, like religion and politics. Air traffic controls soft spot? Runways. You dont mess with the runways. They may have all kinds of shapes and surfaces-concrete, dirt, grass, even water-but theyre all sacred ground when aircraft are using them. The skys plenty big, but airport runways are quite finite. Bad things can happen quickly in those confined spaces, and runway incursion numbers have been steadily increasing. To stave off the unthinkable, air traffic controllers wield a constantly evolving arsenal of procedures, technology, and phraseology in their efforts to keep pilots safe and informed.
