International Civil Aviation Organization

AOPA PIC - ICAO Flight Planning Form

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• published: 21 Sep 2015
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"You’ve been filing FAA flight plans for years. But one day you find yourself having to file an ICAO flight plan. What do you do?! Relax! Its pretty simple and not all that unlike what you’ve already been doing. So, what is ICAO anyway? It is the International Civil Aviation Organization and its actually part of the United Nations. The ICAO sets the standards that make international travel relatively seemless. In recent years, the FAA has been adopting more ICAO standards in an effort to bring the United States closer to the global standards of air travel, and the use of the ICAO flight plan is no exception. Use of an ICAO flight plan is currently required whenever the flight will enter international airspace; the flight will enter RVSM, the flight expects services based on ADS-B; or the flight includes routing based on Performance Based Navigation or PBN. The differences between an ICAO flight plan and an FAA flight plan are pretty small, though it does require some close attention to make sure you’ve got the details correct. Some items are the same as they’ve always been: aircraft ID or tail number; aircraft type, fuel endurance, and number of people on board. Other items will be new such as a Wake Turbulence category, and “Type of Flight.” The most interesting change though is found in the equipment suffixes box, box 10. The ICAO codes used to denote the type of equipment on board the aircraft are different than the codes used by the FAA. Whereas the FAA established a single letter to determine entire avionics packages, the ICAO system lets you pick and choose which equipment you have, and the capabilities of your avionics. For example, if you have a standard avionics package including a standard vhf radio, a VOR, and an ILS receiver, you would start your equipment line with “S”. If you also had an IFR approved GPS on board, you would add the letter “G”. If you are able to accept PBN routes and procedures you would add the letter “R.” PBN is a new concept that encompasses both Area Navigation, RNAV, and Required Navigation Performance (RNP). If you are using RNAV or RNP for any phase of the flight, this code applies to you. So far, your equipment code will read S-G-R. To finish up box 10, you must list your transponder equipment code on the right hand side of box 10, referred to as box 10b. If you have a mode C transponder, just put a “C” in the box. If you have a mode S, there are 7 different codes for a mode S transponder. Your best bet is to check with the user guide for your particular model to find out which code applies.” There is one more information box related to equipment on the ICAO flight plan form; the “Other Information” box, box 18. Now, if you previously listed your flight as PBN capable in Box 10 with the “R” designation, that only notified ATC that you’re equipment is PBN approved. Since PBN describes many different types of equipment, must specify what you are equipped with in box 18. Most piston powered GA aircraft will include PBN/B2C2D2” in Box 18. The “B” denotes RNAV 5 capability, “C” denotes RNAV 2 capability, and “D” denotes RNAV 1 capability. By listing this code, you are telling ATC that you are capable of handling RNAV based procedures for the enroute structure and terminal procedures. For specific help with your ICAO flight plan, please contact the AOPA Pilot Information Center at 1-800-USA-AOPA"