YOUR FLIGHT’S DNA

The flight progress strip contains a wealth of data that will be used throughout a plane’s journey

1 CALL SIGN

The aircraft’s call sign is a unique identifier used to distinguish it from other aircraft in the area.

2 EQUIPMENT IDENTIFICATION

This code tells air traffic controllers what type of aircraft this plane is.

3 PLANE SPEEDS

The number beginning with ‘T’ tells controllers the true flight speed of the craft, while the number that starts with ‘G’ denotes its ground speed.

4 PREVIOUS FIX

This tells air traffic controllers where the aircraft has been previously and the time it was there, with ‘fix’ being an aviation term for a geographical location.

5 SECTOR NUMBER

This number tells controllers which sector the aircraft is currently flying through.

6 ALTITUDE

This marks the altitude at which the plane is flying in feet. The number has to be multiplied by 100 to give the actual altitude.

7 THE FLIGHT ROUTE

These abbreviations tell controllers where the plane departed from and where its destination is.

8 THE HANDOFF

In many countries the physical flight progress strip has been replaced by a computer display, meaning ‘the handoff’ now means the computerised transfer of control of an aircraft from one sector to another.