Numbers in the route

What do these numbers mean in the route :

3815N 08657W (For flightaware.com/live/flight/N54D … /KSKY/KHNB)

They are latitudes and longitudes in the format DDMM (degrees/minutes)

Those are latitude and longitude coordinates. N38 15’ W86 57’ They’ll probably be using GPS navigation.

But why doesn’t the filed route show up in the route section?

Is it degrees/minutes or decimal degrees?

I’m guessing it’s a short flight. They’re flying direct from the origin to the waypoint, then direct to destination. I could be wrong - I’m sure someone will scold me if I am…

degrees/minutes.

That IS the filed route.

Thanks - I’ve edited my post above to correct the format.

No, it’s not what he filed. I was with him when he filed it with Lansing FSS.

He filed direct to SKY and HNB.

It’s doubtful he filed direct to SKY and HNB. You do mean filed direct from SKY to HNB, right?

In any case, HNB: 38 degrees 15 minutes north, 86 degrees 57 minutes west (look at the bottom of the plate).

In other words, the route of the flight is direct - the FAA entered the destination airport’s location as the route of flight.

Those are the coordinates for the destination airport.

3815N 08657W

KHNB 38-14-56.4930N / 086-57-13.3860W

Edit: It seems that I’m always a minute late an a dollar short

If that’s the case, then why doesn’t Flight Aware put “DIRECT” in the route instead of having those numbers?

cuz thats not how the FAA does it.
FA doesnt “put” anything they don’t get from the FAA.

I think he means direct to SKY on the previous flight.

For both flights, someone at FSS or ATC put the lat/long in the system as the route, and we just display that (as others have mentioned).

I always have the Lat/long ready for K22 as our destination,but last week the FSS guy told me that was no longer necessary. the computer does it automatically.
Probabaly a Locheed Martin twist!

The FSS inserted the lat/longs becuase HNB may or may NOT be known to the Cleveland Center computer. If it doesn’t know HNB, and you file SKY…HNB, you’ll get XXX in the flight plan, and the computer will give up and create extra work load to find out where the aircraft is going.

If the lat/longs are inserted into the flight plan, the computer can figure out ANY coordinate using internal math from know locations. On the strip/screen, the flight plan would be SKY…(lat/long)…HNB. There would then be a remark added that says “(lat/long) is HNB”. The computer will at least draw a straight line so everyone has a clue as to where the aircraft is going.

If the flight originated in Indy center, the coordinates would not be necessary due to the computer knowing all of the fixes inside its own airspace. This is why the AIM recommends that you file a route that includes a fix within each center’s airspace.

dm