AIM

8/15/19

5

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1

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23

Preflight

5. Item 13. Departure Aerodrome/Time

(a)

Insert the ICAO four

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letter location

indicator of the departure aerodrome, or

NOTE

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ICAO location indicators must consist of 4 letters. Airport
identifiers such as 5IA7, 39LL and Z40 are not in ICAO
standard format.

(b)

If no four

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letter location indicator has

been assigned to the departure aerodrome, insert
ZZZZ and specify the non

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ICAO location identifier,

or fix/radial/distance from a nearby navaid, followed
by the name of the aerodrome, in Item 18, following
characters DEP/,

(c)

Then, without a space, insert the estimated

off

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block time.

EXAMPLE

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1.

KSMF2215

2.

ZZZZ0330

6. Item 15. Cruise Speed, Level and Route

(a)

Cruise Speed (maximum 5 characters).

Insert the true airspeed for the first or the whole
cruising portion of the flight, in terms of knots,
expressed as N followed by 4 digits (e.g. N0485), or
Mach number to the nearest hundredth of unit Mach,
expressed as M followed by 3 digits (for example,
M082).

(b)

Cruising level (maximum 5 characters).

Insert the planned cruising level for the first or the
whole portion of the route to be flown, in terms of
flight level, expressed as F followed by 3 figures (for
example, F180; F330), or altitude in hundreds of feet,
expressed as A followed by 3 figures (for example,
A040; A170).

(c)

Route. Insert the requested route of flight

in accordance with guidance below.

NOTE

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Speed and/or altitude changes en route will be accepted by
FAA computer systems, but will not be processed or
forwarded to controllers. Pilots are expected to maintain
the last assigned altitude and request revised altitude
clearances directly from ATC.

(d)

Insert the desired route of flight using a

combination of published routes and/or fixes in the
following formats:

(1)

Consecutive fixes, navaids and waypo-

ints should be separated by the characters “DCT”,
meaning direct.

EXAMPLE

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FLACK DCT IRW DCT IRW125023

NOTE

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IRW125023 identifies the fix located on the Will Rogers
VORTAC 125 radial at 23 DME.

(2)

Combinations of published routes, and

fixes, navaids or waypoints should be separated by a
single space.

EXAMPLE

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WORTH5 MQP V66 ABI V385

(3)

Although it is recommended that filed

airway junctions be identified using a named junction
fix when possible, there may be cases where it is
necessary to file junctioning airways without a named
fix.  In these cases, separate consecutive airways with
a space.

EXAMPLE

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V325 V49

NOTE

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This method of filing an airway junction may result in a
processing ambiguity. This might cause the flight plan to be
rejected in some cases.

7. Item 16. Destination Aerodrome, Total

EET, Alternate and 2nd Alternate Aerodrome

(a)

Destination Aerodrome and Total Esti-

mated Elapsed Time (EET).

(1)

Insert the ICAO four

−

letter location

identifier for the destination aerodrome; or, if no
ICAO location identifier has been assigned,
(Location identifiers, such as WY66, A08, and 5B1,
are not an ICAO standard format),

(2)

Insert ZZZZ and specify the non

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ICAO

location identifier, or fix/radial/distance from a
nearby navaid, followed the name of the aerodrome,
in Item 18, following characters DEST/,

(3)

Then, without a space, insert the total

estimated time en route to the destination.

EXAMPLE

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1.

KOKC0200

2.

ZZZZ0330

(b)

Alternate and 2nd Alternate Aerodrome

(Optional).

(1)

Following the intended destination,

insert the ICAO four

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letter location identifier(s) of