Document Focus: Flight Plans

Flight plans are among the lesser-known public records. Often confused with flight
manifests, these seemingly random assortments of numbers and letters contain
extensive information that could be useful in litigation or in verifying an individual’s
claimed whereabouts.

Following is a phrase-by-phrase break-down of a flight plan for Virgin America

Flight 473 on Airbus 320 on June 4, 2008, that departed from San Francisco at
7:45 a.m. and arrived in Washington, D.C. at 3:55 p.m.

FF: Flight plan. This plan was transmitted via AISR (Airborne Intelligence Surveillance
and Reconnaisance) a computer program central to the Federal Aviation Admistration
(FAA) that receives and transmits data to air control facilities.

KZOAZRZX: Identification for computer at Oakland Center, which is repeated

twice for verification.

04 1310: Month and time that flight plan was filed in the computer.

CYKFNSSL: Location the flight plan was filed from in Ontario, Canada
(Kitchener/Waterloo Regional).

VRD1310032: An identifying alphanumeric for the dispatch people to identify

a particular flight plan.

VRD: Three letter identifier of flight.

1310: Time of filing.
032: Next sequential number.
continued...

VR Research 1624 Franklin Street, Suite 901 Oakland, California 94612 vrresearch.com
 FP: Flight plan.

VRD473: Radio telephony call sign and flight number.

A320: Type of aircraft.

L: Type of navigational equipment.

0457: Beacon code for transponder.

SFO: Point of departure.

P1445: Estimated departure.

350: Requested altitude.

The codes are navigational aides that the radio frequency system (FMS) can tune to
while the aircraft is in cruise control. The dots in between identifiers are for the computer
to read the codes: two dots between identifiers imply similar items (i.e. between two
locations or two jet ways) and one dot implies a transition to a different item (i.e. a
location to a jet route. Jet routes are high altitude (greater than 18,000 feet) and Victor
routes (VOR federal airways) are low altitude (less than 18,000 feet). This particular
flight plan consists of only locations and jet routes:

SFO: San Francisco (point of departure)

LIN: Linden
JSICA: Jessica
MLF: Milford
J28: Jet Route
GCK: Garden City, Kansas
ICT: Wichita, Kansas
SGF: Springfield, Missouri
J98: Jet Route
FAM: Farmington
J78: Jet Route
HVQ: Charleston
ROYIL2: Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR), the landing pattern.
See graphic on the following page for the ROYIL2 STAR.
IAD: Dulles (point of arrival)
continued...

VR Research 1624 Franklin Street, Suite 901 Oakland, California 94612 vrresearch.com
 NE-3, 03 JUL 2008 to 31 JUL 2008

left:
ROYIL2 STAR

NE-3, 03 JUL 2008 to 31 JUL 2008

0428: Time of route in hours and minutes.

CS: Call sign.

Redwood: Call sign unique to Virgin America.

Each airline has a unique call sign; others include:

UAL: United Airlines

AAL: American Airlines
SWA: Southwest Airlines

To Request a Flight Plan:

Flight plans are destroyed 15 days after a flight is completed, as there is no database big
enough to maintain them. Thus, it is important to request the flight plan in advance or
within about two weeks after the flight takes place.

The flight plans are filed regionally, so contact the appropriate regional FAA FOIA office
with as much information about the flight as possible.
See http://www.faa.gov/foia/foia_request/ for more information about submitting the
written requests.

Daniel A. Freeman, a Support Specialist at the FAA’s Oakland Center, can be reached at
(510) 745-3807 to provide more information or answer further questions.

VR Research 1624 Franklin Street, Suite 901 Oakland, California 94612 vrresearch.com