ICAO Flight Plan Builder

Fill in a flight plan item by item, with every entry checked against the ICAO rules. Save your plans, copy the FPL message as ICAO text, or print it on the ICAO flight plan form.

How to fill in an ICAO flight plan

An ICAO flight plan tells air traffic services who you are, what you are flying, what it can do and where you are going. Its format is set by ICAO Doc 4444 (PANS-ATM), Appendix 2, and every item has a number. The builder above follows the same numbering, item by item.

Item 7 — Aircraft identification
Up to seven letters and digits, with no hyphens: the airline's ICAO designator and flight number (UAE201) for an airline flight, otherwise the registration (A6EDA). It is what the controller calls you on the radio.
Item 8 — Flight rules and type of flight
I for IFR, V for VFR, or Y / Z when the rules change en route; then the type: S scheduled, N non-scheduled, G general aviation, M military, X other.
Item 9 — Number and type of aircraft, wake turbulence category
The ICAO type designator from Doc 8643 (B77W, A320, C172) — or ZZZZ with the type in item 18 TYP/ — followed by the wake category: L, M, H or J (super, the A380). The number of aircraft is only given for a formation.
Item 10 — Equipment and capabilities
Before the slash, the communication, navigation and approach equipment: S for the standard set (VHF, VOR, ILS) plus letters such as D DME, G GNSS, R PBN approved, W RVSM, Y 8.33 kHz radio. After it, the surveillance equipment: a transponder letter such as L or S, and ADS letters such as B1. R needs the PBN levels in item 18 PBN/.
Item 13 — Departure aerodrome and time
The four-letter ICAO location indicator (OMDB) and the estimated off-block time in UTC (0930).
Item 15 — Cruising speed, level and route
Speed as N0490 (knots), K0830 (km/h) or M082 (Mach); level as F350 (flight level), A045 (altitude in hundreds of feet), S1130 or M0840 (metric); then the route — SIDs, points and airways separated by spaces, DCT for a direct leg, and TONVO/N0485F370 to change speed and level at a point.
Item 16 — Destination, total EET and alternates
The destination's ICAO indicator, the total estimated elapsed time (0135), and up to two alternate aerodromes.
Item 18 — Other information
Indicators followed by a slash, in a fixed order — PBN/, DOF/ date of flight, REG/ registration, EET/ times to FIR boundaries, SEL/ SELCAL, CODE/ aircraft address, OPR/ operator, RMK/ remarks and others — or 0 when there is nothing to add.
Item 19 — Supplementary information
Endurance, persons on board, emergency radios, survival equipment, life jackets, dinghies, aircraft colour and the pilot-in-command. It goes on the form and stays with the ATS unit — it is not transmitted in the FPL message.

The FPL message

Filed electronically, a flight plan becomes an FPL message: the items in order, each introduced by a hyphen and the whole message in brackets. The builder writes it for you, one field per line and no line longer than 69 characters (the AFTN limit), ready to copy: 

(FPL-UAE201-IS
-B77W/H-SDE2E3FGHIJ3J5M1RWXY/LB1D1
-OMDB0930
-N0490F350 DCT DESDI UL425 TONVO/N0485F370 L677 ITITA DCT KSA
-OERK0135 OEDR
-PBN/A1B1C1D1L1O1S2 DOF/261016 REG/A6EBB)

New to the terms? See the ATC glossary, or take the controller's side of the flight plan in the ATC Radar Simulator. For practice and learning only — file real flight plans through your official ATS reporting office or provider.