ENR 1.10 FLIGHT PLANNING

1 Procedures for the Submission of a Flight Plan

In accordance with European Commission Implementing Regulation No 923/2012 (SERA) 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 VFR flight wishing alerting service;
  3. any flight within FIZ/RMZ or which passes these zones;
  4. any domestic flight within uncontrolled airspace when flying closer than 2.7 NM (5 km) to the dividing line between Estonia and Russia or mainland part of the border line between Estonia and Latvia;
  5. any flight across national borders;
  6. any flight planned to operate at night, if leaving the vicinity of an aerodrome.
An IFPS flight plan shall be submitted in IFPZ for each individual flight to ensure that relevant information is available in IFPS for transmission to the appropriate ATS units.
1.1 Time of Submission

Flight plan shall be submitted not more than 120 hours before flight's EOBT. If the flight plan is submitted earlier than 24 hours before the EOBT, the date of flight shall be inserted in flight plan's field 18 after DOF/. Flight plan shall be submitted at least (or no later than) 60 minutes before EOBT in flight plan.

For the VFR flight not crossing the border of Republic of Estonia, the flight plan shall be submitted at least 30 minutes before EOBT in flight plan.

If the flight plan is submitted during flight, it must be done sufficiently in advance to be received by concerned air traffic service unit 10 minutes before estimated time of arrival to:

  • controlled airspace;
  • FIZ/RMZ.

In accordance with ICAO Doc 7030 EUR, for the flights that may be subject to ATFM measures, flight plan shall be submitted at least 3 hours before the EOBT.

Flight plan requirements for flights subject to ATFM procedures are given in ENR 1.9.

1.2 Content and Format of a Flight Plan
  1. The flight plan form completion requirements described in ICAO Doc 4444 and Eurocontol IFPS Users Manual apply;
  2. Flight plan for glider flights shall contain detailed information about the entire route or area covered by the flights and the altitudes (lowest and highest flight altitudes);
  3. The flight plan submitted for a flight across the Estonian border shall contain information on the entire flight up to the planned landing aerodrome;
  4. The flight plan submitted for the flight along the Estonian border or for a special flight shall contain detailed information about the flight route, times and flight levels;
  5. SID/STAR procedures are not included in the flight plan;
  6. Flight plans submitted for a flight through the Tallinn FIR shall comply with national restrictions published in the RAD document (https://www.nm.eurocontrol.int/RAD/index.html).
1.3 Place of Submission

Flight plan shall be submitted before departure to the ATS reporting office (ARO) or during flight to a corresponding ATS unit.

ATS reporting office (ARO) for all Estonian aerodromes is centralised ARO and it is the central unit for accepting, processing and transmitting flight plans and flight plan related messages.

Flight plans shall be preferably submitted before departure to the centralised ARO:

ARO TALLINN
Tel:+372 625 8293, +372 605 8905, +372 625 8282 (helpdesk)
Fax:+372 601 6096, +372 625 8280
E-mail:fpl.tugi@eans.ee

When submitting a flight plan by phone, the sequence of fields in the ICAO flight plan form shall be followed.

Flight plans can be submitted via the Estonian centralised ARO web-based application (https://isb.eans.ee).

Flight plans may also be submitted to the following units before departure:

  1. departing from Ämari Military Aerodrome to the AIS unit there;
  2. upon departure from the following aerodromes to local ATS providing ARO services during their working hours:
    • Kärdla
    • Kuressaare
    • Pärnu
    • Tartu

IFR or mixed flight rules IFR/VFR flight plans and associated messages (CHG, DLA, CNL) may be submitted directly to IFPS, as described in ENR 1.11, subject to the procedures described in the IFPS Users Manual. Direct submitters are fully responsible for complying with the applicable IFPZ procedures, including full addressing of the VFR and OAT parts of an IFPZ flight.

If a flight plan submitter uses a computerised flight plan transfer system other than the Estonian centralised ARO web-based application to submit flight plans, the responsibility for correctness and addressing of the flight plan form lies with the submitter.

1.4 Processing and Transmission of Flight Plans
The centralised ARO processes and transmits flight plans and, if necessary, flight plan related messages (CHG, DLA, CNL) as follows:
  1. Flight plans and flight plan related messages for flights departing from Estonia submitted directly to the centralised ARO:
    • checks compliance with the format and data presentation requirements;
    • checks the completeness and to the extent possible, accuracy of the flight plan;
    • transmits flight plans for IFR flights and mixed flight rules IFR/VFR GAT flights to IFPS and other relevant units;
    • transmits VFR flight plans to all relevant units.
  2. Transmits flight plans and flight plan related messages for flights departing from Estonia through the respective units of EEKA, EEKE, EETU, EEPU and EEEI to all relevant units.
  3. Transmits flight plans for IFR flights and mixed flight rules IFR/VFR GAT flights departing from outside Estonia to the responsible ATS unit at the aerodrome of departure;
  4. In the case of a flight through intermediate stops, where the flight plans for each planned stage of the flight are submitted to the centralised ARO or to the first responsible ATS unit of departure aerodrome within Tallinn FIR:
    • transmits flight plans for IFR flights and mixed flight rules IFR/VFR GAT flights to IFPS and other relevant units;
    • transmits flight plans of VFR flights for all stages of flight departing from Tallinn FIR to all relevant units;
    • flight plans for VFR flight stages not departing from Tallinn FIR shall be transmitted to the AROs of the departure aerodrome or to other units responsible for the subsequent transmission of flight plans.
1.5 Adherence to ATS Route Structure and FRA Procedures

Airspace users are permitted to follow published ATS routes or to submit flight plan according to published FRA procedures, as described in ENR 1.3, between any of the 5 letter waypoints published in ENR 4.4 within Tallinn FIR above FL95.

Airspace users operating according to FRA procedures are permitted to cross Tallinn FIR BDRY between Riga FIR and Helsinki FIR according to published FRA procedures of Estonia, Latvia and Finland.

Submitting of flight flans for flights in Bodø OFIR shall be in accordance with the flight planning rules in ICAO Doc 7030, NAT section.

1.6 Authorisation for Special Flights

A single permit shall be obtained from the Civil Aviation Administration to organise air races or public aviation events and to conduct flights where it is impossible to follow the rules of the air, or other extraordinary flights.

A request for authorisation shall be mailed so as to be received at least one week before the intended day of operation to:

Post:Estonian Civil Aviation Administration
Lõõtsa 5
11415 Tallinn, ESTONIA
Tel:+372 610 3500
Fax:+372 610 3501
E-mail:ecaa@ecaa.ee

2 Repetitive Flight Plan System

NIL

3 Changes to the Submitted Flight Plan

When a specific IFR flight is likely to be delayed for 15 minutes or VFR flight for 30 minutes in excess of the estimated departure time stated in the FPL, it shall be announced as early as possible before departure to:

Note: 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, it shall be informed immediately:

Significant changes to a current flight plan for a controlled flight during flight shall be reported or requested according to the provisions in ICAO Annex 2, para. 3.6.2.
Significant changes to a flight plan for an uncontrolled VFR flight include:
3.1 Arrival Report (Closing a Flight Plan)

If a flight plan was submitted for the flight, a report of arrival shall be made to Tallinn ACC at the earliest possible moment after landing to an aerodrome where air traffic service is not provided:

AFS:EETTZQZX
Tel:+372 625 8256; +372 625 8254; +372 621 4428.

When communication facilities at the arrival aerodrome are known to be inadequate, immediately prior to landing the aircraft shall, if practicable, transmit by radio directly to an appropriate ATS unit or via other aircraft, a message comparable to an arrival report, where such a report is required.

Arrival reports made by aircraft shall contain the following elements of information:
  • aircraft identification;
  • departure aerodrome;
  • destination aerodrome (only in the case of diversionary landing);
  • arrival aerodrome;
  • time of arrival.

If it is expected that the arrival report will not reach the appropriate ATS unit within 30 minutes after the ETA, a notification shall be made in item 18 of the flight plan, concerning the time when the arrival report may be expected (e.g RMK/EXPECT ARR 1835).

Note: Whenever an arrival report is required, a failure to comply with the provisions as listed above may cause serious disruption in the ATS and incur great expenses in carrying out unnecessary search and rescue operations.