Wildfire Season - Navigating Multi-Aircraft Flight Plans in AARMS

A CL-415 firefighting aircraft, ready to combat wildfires.

As wildfire season ramps up, you may begin to notice an increase in aerial firefighting activity reflected in your ATC movement data. Aircraft such as TNK123 (a dedicated tanker aircraft) or BD456 (a Birdog aircraft, which leads and coordinates airtanker missions) will become more prominent. These flight identifiers represent specialized aircraft playing key roles in coordinated wildfire suppression efforts.

This period provides an excellent opportunity to review the handling of movements generated by a single multi-aircraft flight plan — a common operational practice during fire response, where two or more aircraft follow the same flight path under a single flight plan.

Identifying Multi-Aircraft Flight Plan Movements

In AARMS, movements created from multi-aircraft flight plans are most often reflected in ATC data using the flight number or registration followed by a number. For example:

Movements for May 1, 2025, showing two arrivals at 19:30. Both flights, ASB250 and ASB2502, are designated with aircraft type CL2P.

At first glance, these entries might appear to be duplicates. However, they in fact represent two movements of two separate aircraft operating under the same flight plan. It’s important not to delete one or mark it as a duplicate, as each record is a legitimate movement that must be tracked and billed appropriately.

Filing a flight plan on the NAV Canada platform, indicating a flight of two aircraft with a single aircraft identification.

Recommended Approach in AARMS

To avoid confusion and ensure accurate billing:

1. Edit the subsequent movement entry:

   • For the second aircraft in the group, remove the trailing number from the identifier (e.g., "ASB2502" becomes "ASB250").

     
     

2. Advance the movement time by 1 second:

   • Update the timestamp to reflect sequential activity.

May 1st movements showing the updated AC Identifier and time for the 2nd movement generated by the multi-aircraft flight plan.

This small adjustment prevents the record from being flagged as a duplicate and ensures clear identification on billing to the aircraft owner, who is responsible for all aircraft included under the flight plan.

Need Help?

If you have any questions or need assistance processing multi-aircraft flight plans:

• Open a service ticket through the AARMS portal, or

• Email us directly at support@alfaaero.com

  
  

We’re here to help ensure smooth operations during this busy season.