INFO Last updated on  26 JAN 2023                                                             PDF Version - Printable  

ENR 1.10  FLIGHT   PLANNING

(Restriction, Limitation or advisory information)

1.

1.1

PROCEDURES FOR THE SUBMISSION OF A FLIGHT PLAN

A flight plan shall be submitted in accordance with ICAO Annex 2, para 3.3.1 prior to operate:

a)       Any IFR flight;

b)      Any VFR flight;  

        -   departing from, destined for or transiting to an aerodrome within a control zone;

        -   across the FIR boundary, i.e international flights.

Time of Submission

Except for repetitive flight plans a flight plan shall be submitted 120 Hours (Five days) at the earliest but not later than 60 minutes prior to the estimated time of departure, taking in to account the requirements for timely information to ATS units within the airspace along the proposed route to be flown.

Domestic Civil Helicopters , Float Planes and other fixed wing flight operations are permitted to file Flight Plans with a minimun of thirty minutes in advance notice prior to the intended take off time.

Place of Submission

a)       Flight plans shall be submitted to the Air Traffic Services Reporting Office (ARO) at the departure aerodrome.

b)      Flight plans for all aerodromes can be submitted via e-mail, Tele Fax or AMHS/AFTN to Air Traffic Services Reporting         Office(ARO) VCBI. 

Note : If the flight plan is submitted via Email (aimaro_brief@airport.lk), TeleFax(+94 112259916) or AMHS/AFTN (VCBIZPZX) it has to be confirmed at least one hour prior to ETD by pilot in Command or his authorized representative contacting +94 112264226, +94 112264227 or +94 112259916, otherwise the transmission of the flight plan is not guaranteed.

VFR Flight plan for alerting service only.

Alerting service is provided in principle to flights for which a flight plan has been submitted

Adherence to  ATS Route Structure

No flight plans shall be filed for routes deviating from the published ATS route structure unless prior permission has been obtained from the appropriate ATC authorities.

Non-scheduled / Private Flights Into and Across the Territory of Sri Lanka - Flight Plan Requirements:

All Non-scheduled / Private flight operations into and across Sri Lanka  territory shall specify the Sri Lanka DGCA authority (Quote Flight Clearance Number - FCN or Re-Clearance Number) on the field 18 of the filed flight plan.( Also ref  para 3 of sub section GEN 1.2)  

OPERATION OF REPETITIVE FLIGHT PLAN (RPL

General

The procedure concerning the use of Repetitive Flight Plans (RPL) confirm to ICAO) DOC 7030 and the PANS-RAC

RPL lists relating to flights in and to flights over flying the Colombo FIR  shall be submitted at least two (02) weeks in advance, in duplicate to the following address;

    The Head of Air Navigation Services

    Navigational Services Complex.

    Bandaranaike International Airport Colombo

    Katunayake

    Sri Lanka

 Incidental Changes and Cancellation of RPL

Incidental changes and cancellation of RPL relating to departures from KATUNAYAKE / Bandaranaike Intl. Airport Colombo shall be notified to AIS Briefing Unit (ARO) at the respective departure aerodrome as early as possible but not later than 30 minutes before the ETD given in the RPL Listing.

Delay

When a specific flight is likely to encounter a delay of 30 minutes or more than the estimated departure time in the RPL, the ATS unit serving the departure aerodrome shall be notified immediately. Delays relating to departures shall be notified to the AIS Flight Briefing unit (ARO) at the respective aerodrome.

Note :   Failure to comply with this procedures may result in the automatic cancellation of the RPL for that specific flight at one or more ATS units concerned.

ATS Messages.

For a flight operated on an RPL, no flight plan message (FPL) will be transmitted. Departure messages (DEP) or delay messages (DLA) or change message on incidental changes relating to such flights will be transmitted to ATS units concerned.

CHANGES TO THE SUBMITTED FLIGHT PLAN

All changes to flight plan submitted for an IFR flight or a controlled VFR flight and significant changes to a flight plan submitted for an uncontrolled VFR flight shall be reported as soon as possible to the appropriate ATS unit. In the event of a delay in departure of 30 minutes or more for a flight for which a flight plan has been submitted, the flight plan shall be amended or a new flight plan shall be submitted after the old plan has been cancelled.

Note 1:     If a delay in departure of a controlled flight is not properly reported, the relevant flight plan data may no longer be readily available to the appropriate ATS unit when a clearance is ultimately required which will consequently result in extra delay for the flight.

Note 2:     If a delay in departure (or cancellation) of an uncontrolled VFR flight is not properly reported, alerting or search and rescue action may be unnecessarily initiated when the flight fails to arrive at the destination aerodrome within 30 minutes after its current ETA.

Whenever a flight, for which a flight plan has been submitted, is cancelled, the appropriate ATS unit shall be informed immediately.

Changes to a current flight plan for a controlled flight shall be reported or requested, subject to the provisions in ICAO Annex 2 para 3.6.2. (Adherence to Flight Plan) Significant changes to a flight plan for an uncontrolled flight include changes in endurance or in the total number of person on board and changes in time estimates of 30 minutes or more.

Arrival Report (closing a flight plan)

A report of arrival shall be made at the earliest possible moment after landing to the airport office of the arrival aerodrome by any flight for which a flight plan has been submitted except when the arrival has been acknowledged by the local ATS unit. After landing at an aerodrome which is not the destination aerodrome as planned (diversionary landing). The local ATS unit shall be specifically informed accordingly. In the absence of a local ATS unit at the aerodrome of diversionary landing, the pilot-in-command is responsible for passing the arrival report to the destination aerodrome.

Arrival reports shall contain the following elements of information.

                   a.  Aircraft identification

                   b.  Departure aerodrome

                   c.  Destination aerodrome

                   d.  Time of arrival

  In the case of diversion, insert the "arrival aerodrome" between "destination aerodrome" and "time of arrival".