Starting November 15, 2012, ICAO will support an updated ICAO Flight Plan.
The changes to the flight plan allow you to specify items like longer registrations, different types of equipment, and new rules for submitting and amending the plan.
Some highlights:
- Flight plans are not to be submitted more than 120 hours (5 days) before departure.
- Updated Equipment codes such as:
- “A” for GBAS landing system
- “M1” for an Inmarsat phone
- “Y” for a VHF radio with 8.33Khz spacing
- The letter “S” for equipment code no longer includes the ADF as “standard” equipment. The new list is: VHF Radio, ILS, and VOR capabilities. Previously if you used S, you will need to use “S/F” to indicate that you have the standard equipment plus ADF capabilities.
The rest of the changes are mostly “behind the scenes” that the ATS/FSS unit use as part of the flight plan. The official change document can be found from ICAO directly.
I suspect that NavCanada will make an announcement about these changes in the next 12-18 months.
