decoding flight route Australia

Greetings
Unfortunately I dont fly, only in my sim. Can someone please decode some real life route for me which I got from flightaware IFR Route Analyzer . I will use an example from airport YMMB.
DCT MB w449 TEMPL w15 AV w635 MB N0155A070 w449 LTV N0155A060 w449 MB N0155A040. Now I understand everything except the N…etc entries. They seem to be very common in many flight plans. They are not on real charts or in Australian AIPs . I thought they might be some sort of user defined waypoint but am only guessing. :open_mouth:

Latitude/Longitude?

Thanks for your reply Pthomas. If it is Lat/ Long , then I am not familiar with that format. Do you know of a program that uses that config. I have used the three variations ie: DD (decimal degree) , DM (Decimal Minute) and DMS (Degrees Minutes Seconds) extensively in programing but the examples I gave dont conform to those. They should all be around the S37 Lat and E144 Long area as was displayed in the flightaware track log for that particular flight.

It looked like a lat/long to me, but I didn’t study it closely to see where the flight actually planned to fly. Here is a flight route for an aircraft from LAX towards Asia. In this format, the lat longs are easy to spot, as in 4500N 13200W.

VTU5 RZS MQO TRYSH 4500N 13200W 5000N 13800W 5500N 14500W GRIZZ 5730N 15000W ODK 5800N 16000W 5800N 17000W 5700N 18000E

So, like I said, the numbers look like lat/longs, but the format isn’t familiar to me, at least.

I was thinking radial/distance but even that is also not quite the right format.

google says it is changes in planned airspeed/altitude.

Oh, bingo! Light goes on! Thanks to OBJ…

In your flight plan example, the aircraft is planning to fly at 155 knots(“N0155”) and changing altitudes during the flight, descending from 7000ft (A70) down to 4000 feet (A040).

I borrowed this text from this site,

skybrary.aero/index.php/Flight_Plan_Filling ( I have no idea who owns it)

(A) Cruising Speed (maximum 5 characters)

Insert the true airspeed for the first or the whole cruising portion of the flight, in terms of:

a) kilometres per hour expressed as “K” followed by 4 figures 

    Example: K0220 (which means 220 km/h true airspeed) 

b) knots expressed as “N” followed by 4 figures 

    Example: N0175 (which means 175 knots true airspeed) 

There is also an option to indicate speed as Mach number but as it is not used by GA no details will be provided.

General aviation example: N0150 (assuming that You will fly with speed 150 knots)

(B) Cruising Level (maximum 5 characters)

Insert the planned cruising level for the first or the whole portion of the route to be flown, in terms of:

a) flight level, expressed as “F” followed by 3 figures or

    Example: F085 (which means flight level 085), 

b) standard metric level in tens of metres, expressed as “S” followed by 4 figures

    Example: S0150 (which means 1500 metres) 

c) altitude in hundreds of feet, expressed as “A” followed by 3 figures

    Example: A055 (which means 5500 feet altitude) 

d) altitude in tens of metres expressed as “M” followed by 4 figures

    Example: M0610 (which means 6100 metres altitude)

Thanks obj and pthomas. That all makes sense. The route is in and around controlled airspace of a major airport, ie: the so called mushroom steps, which would probably explain the differing altitudes between some of the legs. Thanks again guys.

Credit to OBJ for his Google sense. I couldn’t find it when I searched…

I found the exact details in case you need to look up other details.

The AIP has a complete summary of all possible options for the flight notification form in AIP ENR 1.10 Appendix 2.
(from airservicesaustralia.com/fli … tion-form/)

Appendix 2 is around page 239 in the current book.
airservicesaustralia.com/aip … nroute.pdf
airservicesaustralia.com/aip … nroute.pdf

I think I did one that had a known point, radial and distance once. Not sure if it was CPL(H) or PPL(A).

Thank you very much Jon. Its one thing knowing the answer but finding it written in black and white is always better for any future reference. I found a couple of good examples given in the " requirements for change in speed and/or level" in the Appendix 2 reference you stated.