Instrument Student Pilot Filing IFR

Roy Smith wrote:

ATC only sees some subset of the fields you file in your flight plan. I
don't remember exactly which ones they get (everything up to the REMARKS
section?), but the PIC's name isn't one of them. All that stuff about home
base, souls on board, paint color, etc, is purely for SAR and accident
investigation purposes.

ATC sees the first few characters of the REMARKS, but the string length
is limited. I forget how many characters they see. e.g. if I remark "PLA
FAY", ATC knows I plan to do practice low approaches at Fayetteville.

Dave Butler wrote:

*****
ATC sees the first few characters of the REMARKS, but the string length
is limited. I forget how many characters they see. e.g. if I remark
"PLA FAY", ATC knows I plan to do practice low approaches at
Fayetteville.
*****

I don't know offhand the number of characters that are passed to us at
center, but it is far more than a few. Some military flight plans have
extensive remarks that I imagine can exceed 100 characters.

There's not much need to abbreviate if it's only a few words. It can
cause confusion if it's not a common abbreviation (even if it is used
extensively elsewhere). I remember the first time someone abbreviated
"pick up airborne" as PUP AIRBORNE. I asked them if they'd be
descending slowly to protect the dog's ears. ;-)


Chad Speer
PP-ASEL, IA
ATCS, Kansas City ARTCC