ForeFlight ICAO Flight Plan Issue

Banjo33

Banjo33

Line Up and Wait
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Banjo33
This very likely isn’t an issue with ForeFlight and is most likely an issue with my setup. I’ve been filing with FF for years and made the switch to using the ICAO format a few months ago due to constant feedback from FF indicating that’s the method I need to be using. So I read everything I could to make sure my settings were correct (mainly WASS GPS and ADSB-out via GTX-345) and have had no issues until Thursday. When I filed (using my standard profile), I got an error message: “invalid code value in item 18. The code value must be a 6 character combination of A-Z and 0-9.” Line 18 appears to correlate to the other info section where your SUR and CODE gets input. I have B1 (ADSB, dedicated 1090 Out) and C (Modes A and C) selected, so I have “260B” and the 6-digit code from my FAA report input in the other section. I’m guessing it doesn’t like 260B, but from what I’ve read, this appears to be a standard entry (no idea what it means).

Any one have an idea or recommendation on how to clear this error?
 
Coming back to this after doing some reading. Apparently the GTX-345 isn’t “DO-260” compliant, so deleting that from the SUR option eliminated the error message. I’m guessing something has changed as I know I’ve filed ICAO before with no error. It’ll probably be an issue for someone that actually files with this capability.
 
Banjo33 said:
Coming back to this after doing some reading. Apparently the GTX-345 isn’t “DO-260” compliant, so deleting that from the SUR option eliminated the error message. I’m guessing something has changed as I know I’ve filed ICAO before with no error. It’ll probably be an issue for someone that actually files with this capability.
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Odd. With a GTX 345R (the Remote version, installed with G1000) we were told to file SUR/260B and B2 (because it's ADS-B In and Out, B1 is Out only) and it works fine.

It may be that SUR/260B would work if you filed B2...
 
The error message is that you specified an invalid CODE/ value in field 18. On ForeFlight, this is specified in More>Aircraft>N number>Other Information>Code> This is a six hexadecimal character value. For all N registry aircraft it is a value between A00000 for N1 up to ADF7C7 for N99999. Hexadecimal (Hex) is a numbering system with base 16 and the 16 digits are 0 thru 9 plus A, B, C, D, E and F. It is used by computers. If you go to the FAA registry and look up your N number https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/nnum_inquiry.aspx look for the field labeled "Mode S Code (base 16 / hex)" You will find a 6 character value beginning with A. For example for N12345, it is A061D9. The USA is assigned a block of Hex codes of A00000 to AFFFFF and the code value is algorithmically determined by your N number. All aircraft with either a mode S transponder or a UAT ADS-B Out system have the code value programmed into them that corresponds to your N number by the avionics shop. So you can look up your code and set it into the ForeFlight code field. It is used by the ATC computer to uniquely determine which aircraft is associated with a flight plan.

As far as the SUR value is concerned, the correct code for an ADS-B Out system coded as B1 or B2 is 260B. 260B means you are 2020 compliant using a 1090ES type transponder. A SUR value of 282B indicates you have a UAT based ADS-B Out system that is 2020 compliant. The correct SUR value is 260B for your transponder.
 
John Collins said:
The error message is that you specified an invalid CODE/ value in field 18. On ForeFlight, this is specified in More>Aircraft>N number>Other Information>Code> This is a six hexadecimal character value. For all N registry aircraft it is a value between A00000 for N1 up to ADF7C7 for N99999. Hexadecimal (Hex) is a numbering system with base 16 and the 16 digits are 0 thru 9 plus A, B, C, D, E and F. It is used by computers. If you go to the FAA registry and look up your N number https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/nnum_inquiry.aspx look for the field labeled "Mode S Code (base 16 / hex)" You will find a 6 character value beginning with A. For example for N12345, it is A061D9. The USA is assigned a block of Hex codes of A00000 to AFFFFF and the code value is algorithmically determined by your N number. All aircraft with either a mode S transponder or a UAT ADS-B Out system have the code value programmed into them that corresponds to your N number by the avionics shop. So you can look up your code and set it into the ForeFlight code field. It is used by the ATC computer to uniquely determine which aircraft is associated with a flight plan.

As far as the SUR value is concerned, the correct code for an ADS-B Out system coded as B1 or B2 is 260B. 260B means you are 2020 compliant using a 1090ES type transponder. A SUR value of 282B indicates you have a UAT based ADS-B Out system that is 2020 compliant. The correct SUR value is 260B for your transponder.
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john, I confirmed that this code was entered accurately and it was. It’s worked fine until now.
 
Send an email to foreflight,. They will fix it quickly. I had an issue with a 2018 Sr 22 I was flying, a controller caught it. He asked me if I had gps, I said yes, he said my flight plan only showed a vor. I emailed ff and they fixed it in an hour.
 
Banjo33 said:
john, I confirmed that this code was entered accurately and it was. It’s worked fine until now.
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PM me. I work for ForeFlight. If you got the message you described, what I wrote is what it means. I can check your account and verify what happened, but you need to PM me or send an email to team@foreflight.com. If you do the latter, include your N number and the date the issue occurred and make sure you use or provide your account login email.
 
John Collins said:
PM me. I work for ForeFlight. If you got the message you described, what I wrote is what it means. I can check your account and verify what happened, but you need to PM me or send an email to team@foreflight.com. If you do the latter, include your N number and the date the issue occurred and make sure you use or provide your account login email.
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John, is this one of those nice-to-put-in-but-not-necessary in the domestic ATC system items?
 
Mark,

Including the CODE value in an ICAO flight plan is in theory useful and is suggested/required by the FAA, but it is not enforced if it is missing. If it is included and the value is invalid, ERAM will reject it and ForeFlight will generate an error message. Invalid might be something like using a non hexadecimal value or more than 6 characters, even a leading or trailing space character, which can be difficult to spot. I have seen many instances of its use not being understood and call signs being entered or octal values being entered or special characters being entered.

This is the current FAA guidance: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...ling_adsb_capability_faa_icao_flight_plan.pdf

The current AIM guidance is:
(o) CODE/ Aircraft address (expressed in the form of an alphanumerical code of six hexadecimal characters) when required by the appropriate ATS authority. Include CODE/ when ADS-B capability is filed in Item 10.
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Discussing this with the FAA expert, specifying code allows a 1 to 1 correspondence between a flight plan in ERAM and a target being tracked by ATC. It is possible that there are multiple aircraft in the same airspace that have the same transponder code.
 
John Collins said:
Mark,

Including the CODE value in an ICAO flight plan is in theory useful and is suggested/required by the FAA, but it is not enforced if it is missing. If it is included and the value is invalid, ERAM will reject it and ForeFlight will generate an error message. Invalid might be something like using a non hexadecimal value or more than 6 characters, even a leading or trailing space character, which can be difficult to spot. I have seen many instances of its use not being understood and call signs being entered or octal values being entered or special characters being entered.

This is the current FAA guidance: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...ling_adsb_capability_faa_icao_flight_plan.pdf

The current AIM guidance is:


Discussing this with the FAA expert, specifying code allows a 1 to 1 correspondence between a flight plan in ERAM and a target being tracked by ATC. It is possible that there are multiple aircraft in the same airspace that have the same transponder code.
Click to expand...
Thank you John. I know (from some of your posts, I think) that there are a number of items which are neither required nor necessary and was wondering whether this was one of them. And thanks for the reference also.
 
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