Definition
A flight plan filed using the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) format, which uses standardized fields and equipment codes to describe a flight, its route, and the aircraft's navigation, communication, and surveillance capabilities. It is required for international flights and is increasingly used for domestic IFR flights in the United States, particularly when filing RNAV or PBN procedures that depend on specific equipment qualifications.
Plain English
A flight plan written in the international standard format. It uses set codes to tell air traffic control exactly what your aircraft can do — what kind of navigation, radios, and tracking equipment you have on board.
Context Anchor
You encounter this when filing a flight plan, especially for instrument flying or when the route includes area navigation procedures.
Derivation
ICAO is the United Nations agency that sets worldwide aviation standards. The 'ICAO flight plan' is simply the version of the flight plan form that follows those international standards, so a flight plan filed in one country can be read and understood by controllers in another.
Why Pilots Care
Required for international operations and ensures the flight plan is accepted without translation errors by controllers outside the United States.
Intuition Check
Do not read “ICAO flight plan” as a flight plan sent to ICAO. It means a flight plan written in the ICAO standard format.
Example Sentence 1
Before departure, the pilot filed an ICAO flight plan listing the aircraft's RNAV and GPS capability so that ATC could issue the RNAV departure procedure.
Example Sentence 2
Because the destination was in Canada, the dispatcher used the ICAO flight plan format instead of the domestic form.