ICAO Flight Plans

Here are the values for some of the common fields on ICAO flight plans. Hopefully you find this useful – if there’s anything else you want to see on this page, tell us.

Equipment codes and PBN

CallsignTypeItem 10Item 18
N2145MP28RBGS/EB1U2
Or BGRS/EB1U2		SUR/260B 282B CODE/A1CB71
...add PBN/C2D2O2S1
N3021CP28ABGS/EB1U2
Or BGRS/EB1U2		SUR/260B 282B CODE/A3293E
...add PBN/C2D2O2S1
N36120P28RBGS/EB1U2
Or BGRS/EB1U2		SUR/260B 282B CODE/A412BA
...add PBN/C2D2O2S1
N36802P28RBGS/EB1U2
Or BGRS/EB1U2		SUR/260B 282B CODE/A42C77
...add PBN/C2D2O2S1
N43128P28ABGS/EB1U2
Or BGRS/EB1U2		SUR/260B 282B CODE/A52994
...add PBN/C2D2O2S1
N8092HP28ABGS/EB1U2
Or BGRS/EB1U2		SUR/260B 282B CODE/AB05F2
...add PBN/C2D2O2S1
N8137QP28ABGS/EB1U2
Or BGRS/EB1U2		SUR/260B 282B CODE/AB17DD
...add PBN/C2D2O2S1

As to including “R” on Item 10, that requires including PBN on Item 18, but according to the FAA, you need R with PBN C value to fly Q and T routes, and R with PBN D value to fly RNAV arrival/departure. You’ll need S1 in order to fly GPS approaches. Without including those you can still fly these routes/arrivals/departures/approaches upon request, and you should note you are not required to include them unless you’re comfortable flying those.

  • On Item 10:
    • B – LPV
    • G – GNSS (i.e. GPS in our case)
    • R – PBN (to be elaborated on Item 18)
    • S – Standard (from the AIM: “If the letter S is used, standard equipment is considered to be VHF RTF, VOR, and ILS within U.S. domestic airspace“).
  • On Item 18 – PBN:
    • C2 – RNAV 2 with GNSS source, allowing you to fly T routes, and if you have “G” on Item 10, Q routes as well.
    • D2 – RNAV 1 with GNSS source. Allows you to fly GNSS arrivals/departures.
    • O2 – RNP1 with GNSS source. I’m honestly not sure what this gives you beyond what D2 already does, so your call… Any insights will be appreciated.
    • S1 – RNP approach, no barometric data, and this is important – no RF legs (these are radius-to-fix legs).

Airports

Airports in ICAO flight plans (or as they’re formally called, “aerodromes”) use ICAO 4-letter code, e.g. KBED. How about airport that only have a three-letter code, such as Katama (1B2)? I’m glad you asked.

At the flight plan form, in the appropriate field (departure, destination or alternate), instead of a four-letter code, put ZZZZ. Then on Item 18, indicate DEP/ (for departure), DEST/ (for destination) or ALTN/ (for alternate), followed by the location of the airport, optionally followed by its name, for example:

  • DEP/1B2 KATAMA (just use the non-ICAO identifier), or
  • DEP/MVY135005 KATAMA (radial/distance from a fix, in this case MVY VOR), or
  • DEP/4122N07031W KATAMA (lat/long in degrees and minutes)

Additional resources