A recent FAA Information for Operators (InFo) directed at private and commercial operators addresses what the agency says has been an increasing trend of discrepancies between the “filed” air traffic services (ATS) flight plan and the “operational” flight plan provided to the crew. These discrepancies, the FAA said, “can lead to a loss of separation and an increase in workload for ATC and flight crews.”
For example, the InFo letter describes an August 14 event in which “ATC provided a Cessna Citation 525 with 1,000-foot vertical separation in RVSM airspace based on the ATS flight plan. However, the operational flight plan provided to the crew indicated the flight was not RVSM approved.”
The FAA also noted that “flight plan changes are the leading cause” of FMS input mistakes resulting in navigation errors.” Most discrepancies appear to be caused by “inadequate coordination” of changes to flight plans, the FAA said, such as sending of a replacement flight plan without canceling the original flight plan or sending a replacement flight plan after an attempt to cancel the original flight plan was unsuccessful.