ENR 1.10  Flight planning

1  Restriction, limitation and advisory information

1.1  Submission of a flight plan

Information relative to an intended flight or portion of a flight, to be provided to air traffic service units, shall be in the form of a flight plan.

1.1.1 A flight plan shall be submitted prior to operating:
  1. any flight or portion thereof to be provided with air traffic control service;
  2. any IFR flight within advisory airspace;
  3. any flight within or in to designated areas, or along designated routes, when so required by the appropriate ATS authority to facilitate the provision of flight information, alerting and search and rescue services;
  4. any flight within or into designated areas, or along designated routes when so required by the appropriate ATS authority to facilitate co-ordination with appropriate military units or with air traffic services units in adjacent States in order to avoid possible need for interception for the purpose of identification;
  5. any flights across international borders.

Note. — The term “flight plan” is used to mean variously, full information on all items comprised in the flight plan description, covering the whole route of a flight, or limited information required when the purpose is to obtain a clearance for a minor portion of a flight such as to cross an airway, to take off from, or to land at a controlled aerodrome.

1.1.2  Time of submission

A flight plan shall be submitted before departure to an air traffic service reporting office, transmitted to the appropriate air traffic service unit, unless arrangements have been made for submission of repetitive flight plans. Unless otherwise prescribed by the appropriate ATS authority, a flight plan for a flight to be provided to air traffic control service or air traffic advisory service shall be submitted at least 180 minutes before departure, or, if submitted during flight, at a time which ensures its receipt by the appropriate air traffic service unit at least 10 minutes before the aircraft is estimated to reach:

  1. the intended point of entry into a control area or advisory area; or
  2. the point of crossing an airway or advisory route.
1.1.3  Place of submission
  1. Flight plans shall be submitted at the Air Traffic Services Reporting Office (ARO) at the departure aerodrome.
  2. In the absence of such an office at the departure aerodrome, or when operational necessity dictates, a flight plan shall be submitted by telephone, internet, AFTN or fax to the ARO as listed bellow:

ARO Tbilisi

Operational Hours: H24

ARO Batumi

Operational Hours: H24

ARO Kutaisi

Operational Hours: H24

If the flight plan is submitted via internet or fax, it has to be confirmed via telephone with ARO by the submitter of the flight plan immediately after transmission.

1.2  Contents of a flight plan

A flight plan shall comprise information regarding such of the following items as are considered relevant by the appropriate ATS authority:

  • Aircraft identification;
  • Flight rules and type of flight;
  • Number and type(s) of aircraft and wake, turbulence category;
  • Equipment;
  • Departure aerodrome (see Note 1);
  • Estimated off-block time (see Note 2);
  • Cruising speed(s);
  • Cruising level(s);
  • Route to be followed;
  • Destination aerodrome and total estimated elapsed time;
  • Alternate aerodrome(s);
  • Fuel endurance;
  • Total number of persons on board;
  • Emergency and survival equipment;
  • Other information.

Note 1. — For flight plans submitted during flight, the information provided in respect of this item will be an indication of the location from which supplementary information concerning the flight may be obtained, if required.

Note 2. — For flight plans submitted during flight, the information to be provided in respect of this item will be the time over the first point of the route to which the flight plan relates.

Note 3. — The term “aerodrome” where used in the flight plan is intended to cover also sites other than aerodromes which may be used by certain types of aircraft, e.g. helicopters or balloons.

Note 4. — In case when a flight plan is submitted more than 24 hours prior to the estimated off-block time the flight plan shall contain the date of flight.

1.3  Completion of a flight plan
1.3.1 Whatever the purpose for which it is submitted, a flight plan shall contain information, as applicable, on relevant items up to and including “Alternate aerodrome(s)” regarding the whole route or portion thereof for which the flight plan is submitted.
1.3.2 It shall, in addition, contain information, as applicable, on all the other items when so prescribed by the appropriate ATS authority or when otherwise deemed necessary by the person submitted the flight plan.
1.3.3 A flight plan submitted for conducting an international flight shall contain information for the entire flight up to the aerodrome of intended landing and the date of flight.
1.4  Changes to a flight plan

Subject to the provisions of Annex 2 Para 3.6.2.2 all changes to a flight plan submitted for IFR flight, or a VFR flight operated as a controlled flight shall be reported as soon as practicable to the appropriate air traffic service unit. For other VFR flights, significant changes to a flight plan shall be reported as soon as practicable to the appropriate air traffic services unit.

Note. — Information submitted prior to departure regarding fuel endurance or total number of persons carried on board, if incorrect at time of departure, constitutes a significant change to the flight plan and as such must be reported.

1.5  Closing a flight plan
1.5.1 Unless otherwise prescribed by the appropriate ATS authority, a report of arrival shall be made in person, or by radiotelephony at the earliest possible moment after landing, to the appropriate air traffic services unit at the arrival aerodrome, by any flight for which flight plan has been submitted covering the entire flight or the remaining portion of a flight to the destination aerodrome.

Note. — A report of arrival is not necessary after landing at an aerodrome where ATS service is provided if is evident from the radio communication or a light signal that the landing has been observed.

1.5.2 When a flight plan has been submitted only in respect of a portion of a flight, other than the remaining portion of a flight to destination, it shall, when required, be closed by an appropriate report to the relevant air traffic service unit.
1.5.3 When no air traffic service unit exists at the arrival aerodrome, the arrival report, when required, shall be made as soon as practicable after landing and by the quickest means available to the nearest air traffic service unit. In case the arrival report cannot be expected to reach the appropriate ATS unit within 30 minutes from the estimated time of arrival, the time by which the arrival report is expected to be submitted shall be included in the flight plan.
1.5.4 When communication facilities at the arrival aerodrome are known to be inadequate and alternate arrangements for the handling of arrival reports on the ground are not available, the following action shall be taken: immediately prior to landing the aircraft shall, if practicable, transmit to the appropriate air traffic service unit, a message comparable to an arrival report, where such report is required. Such information may be transmitted to the appropriate air traffic service unit via other air traffic service units or other aircraft.
1.5.5 Arrival reports made by aircraft shall contain the following information:
  1. aircraft identification;
  2. departure aerodrome;
  3. destination aerodrome;
  4. arrival aerodrome (only in the case of a diversionary landing);
  5. time of arrival.

Note. — Whenever an arrival report is required, failure to comply with the provisions of 1.5 may cause serious disruption in the air traffic service and incur great expense in carrying out unnecessary search and rescue operations.

2  Operation of repetitive flight plan

2.1 Operators carrying out scheduled international flights in the airports or transit flights through the airspace of Georgia using RPLs shall present their RPLs at least 15 days prior to beginning flights under a new schedule.
2.2 Repetitive flight plan (RPL) listing forms submitted to the relevant ATC units shall be completed in accordance with the recommendations of ICAO DOC 4444-RAC 501/12. The estimated time of entry into the airspace controlled by ATC units shall be inserted into item Q (Remarks).

Note. — If it is necessary to cancel or to make changes in the already approved flight schedule see GEN 1.2 para 2.1.2.

3  Changes to the submitted FPL

All changes to a flight plan submitted for an IFR flight or controlled VFR flight shall be reported as soon as possible to the appropriate air traffic service unit. In the event of delay in departure of 15 minutes or more for a flight for which flight plan has been submitted, the flight plan shall be amended or new flight plan shall be submitted after the old plan has been cancelled.

4  Flight in RVSM airspace

The EUR RVSM flight planning requirements for the completion of the ICAO Flight Plan Form and the Repetitive Flight Plan are contained in the ICAO EUR Regional Supplementary Procedures (DOC 7030/4 – EUR).

5  Adherence to Airspace Utilisation Rules and Availability

No flight plans shall be filed via the airspace of Tbilisi FIR deviating from the State restrictions defined within the Route Availability Document (RAD). This common European reference document contains all airspace utilization rules and availability for Tbilisi FIR and any reference to them shall be made via https://www.nm.eurocontrol.int/RAD/index.html