PREFERRED ROUTE DATA BASE RECORD LAYOUT (PFR-FILE) INFORMATION EFFECTIVE DATE: 09/03/2026 RECORD FORMAT: FIXED LOGICAL RECORD LENGTH: 480 FILE STRUCTURE DESCRIPTION: --------------------------- THERE ARE A VARIABLE NUMBER OF FIXED-LENGTH RECORDS FOR EACH PREFERRED ROUTE (PFR). THE NUMBER OF RECORDS IS DETERMINED BY THE NUMBER OF SEGMENTS USED TO DESCRIBE THE ROUTE. THE DIFFERENT RECORD TYPES WILL BE IDENTIFIABLE BY A RECORD TYPE INDICATOR (PFR1 OR PFR2) AND THE ROUTE IDENTIFIER (ORIGIN IDENT, DESTINATION IDENT, AND ROUTE TYPE CODE). BECAUSE THERE CAN BE MORE THAN ONE PREFERRED ROUTE BETWEEN TWO LOCATIONS, A SEQUENCE NUMBER IS INCLUDED IN THE ROUTE IDENTIFIER TO INSURE THAT A UNIQUE ROUTE IDENTIFIER IS PRESENT. THE ROUTE SEGMENT RECORDS ARE ALSO ORDERED BY A SEQUENCE NUMBER. THE FILE IS SORTED BY ROUTE ID, RECORD TYPE, AND SEGMENT SEQUENCE NUMBER. EACH RECORD ENDS WITH A CARRIAGE RETURN CHARACTER AND LINE FEED CHARACTER (CR/LF). THIS LINE TERMINATOR IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE LOGICAL RECORD LENGTH. DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORD TYPES: -------------------------------- 'PFR1' RECORD TYPE CONTAINS THE BASE PREFERRED ROUTE DATA. IT CONTAINS DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION THAT IS APPLICABLE TO THE ENTIRE ROUTE. THERE IS ALWAYS A PFR1 RECORD. 'PFR2' RECORD TYPE CONTAINS DATA TO DESCRIBE ONE SEGMENT ALONG THE ROUTE. IT IDENTIFIES THE SEGMENT TYPE (AIRWAY, NAVAID, FIX, ETC.) AND PROVIDES ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO DESCRIBE THE SEGMENT, DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF SEGMENT. THERE CAN BE ANY NUMBER OF PFR2 RECORDS (INCLUDING NONE AT ALL). GENERAL INFORMATION: -------------------- 1. LEFT JUSTIFIED FIELDS HAVE TRAILING BLANKS 2. RIGHT JUSTIFIED FIELDS HAVE LEADING BLANKS 3. ELEMENT NUMBER IS FOR INTERNAL REFERENCE ONLY AND NOT IN RECORD 4. THE PFR ROUTE ID (ELEMENT NUMBER:DLID) IS MADE UP OF THE ORIGIN IDENT, DESTINATION IDENT, ROUTE TYPE, AND A SEQUENCE NUMBER TO DISTINGUISH MULTIPLE ROUTES BETWEEN TWO POINTS. Note: For Tower Enroute Control (TEC) routes in the Northern California TRACON (NORCAL), the "Aircraft Allowed/Limitations Description" column is also used to include a local "Route ID", e.g. HWD01, SJC73, OAK10. The "Route Direction Limitations Description" may contain a code that indicates this route is used when SFO is in either "East" or "West" traffic configuration, e.g. SFOE, SFOW. For TEC routes in the Southern California TRACON (SOCAL), the "Route Direction Limitations Description" column will contain this local "Route ID", e.g. CSTP54, BURP16, ONTP12. These "Route IDs" are local conventions of the respective TRACONs. ********************************************************************* 'PFR1' RECORD TYPE - BASE ROUTE DATA ******************************************************************** J T L S L E N U Y E T O L U S P N A C E M T E G R A M B T T T E E H I N R O T N FIELD DESCRIPTION L AN 04 00001 N/A RECORD TYPE INDICATOR. PFR1: BASE ROUTE DATA L AN 0005 00005 DLID ORIGIN FACILITY LOCATION IDENTIFIER (DEPENDING ON NAR TYPE AND DIRECTION, ORIGIN FACILITY IS EITHER COASTAL FIX OR INLAND NAV FACILITY OR FIX*) L AN 0005 00010 DLID DESTINATION FACILITY LOCATION IDENTIFIER (DEPENDING ON NAR TYPE AND DIRECTION, DESTINATION FACILITY IS EITHER AIRPORT, COASTAL FIX OR INLAND NAV FACILITY OR FIX*) L AN 0003 00015 DLID TYPE OF PREFERRED ROUTE (CODE) L, H, LPD, HPD, SLD, SHD, TEC, NAR (FULLY DESCRIBED BELOW) R N 0002 00018 DLID ROUTE IDENTIFIER SEQUENCE NUMBER (1-99) L AN 0030 00020 N/A TYPE OF PREFERRED ROUTE (DESCRIPTION) CODE DESCRIPTION ---- ------------------------------- L LOW ALTITUDE H HIGH ALTITUDE LPD LOW ALT PREFERRED DIR HPD HIGH ALT PREFERRED DIR SLD SPECIAL LOW ALT DIRECTIONAL SHD SPECIAL HIGH ALT DIRECTIONAL TEC TOWER ENROUTE CONTROL NAR NORTH AMERICAN ROUTE L AN 0150 00050 PR20 PREFERRED ROUTE AREA DESCRIPTION L AN 0040 00200 PR21 PREFERRED ROUTE ALTITUDE DESCRIPTION L AN 0100 00240 PR22 AIRCRAFT ALLOWED/LIMITATIONS DESCRIPTION L AN 0015 00340 PR25 EFFECTIVE HOURS (GMT) DESCRIPTION (1) * ALL PREFERRED IFR ROUTES ARE IN EFFECT CONTINUOUSLY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. L AN 0015 00355 PR25 EFFECTIVE HOURS (GMT) DESCRIPTION (2) L AN 0015 00370 PR25 EFFECTIVE HOURS (GMT) DESCRIPTION (3) L AN 0020 00385 PR26 ROUTE DIRECTION LIMITATIONS DESCRIPTION L AN 0020 00405 N/A NAR TYPE (COMMON,NON-COMMON) L AN 0016 00425 N/A DESIGNATOR L AN 0040 00441 N/A DESTINATION CITY *FOR NAR TYPE ROUTES COMMON EASTBOUND INLAND NAV FAC OR FIX > COASTAL FIX COMMON WESTBOUND COASTAL FIX > INLAND NAV FAC OR FIX NON-COMMON (EITHER DIRECTION) INLAND NAV FAC OR FIX > DESTINATION ******************************************************************** 'PFR2' RECORD TYPE - PREFERRED ROUTE SEGMENT DESCRIPTION ******************************************************************* J T L S L E N U Y E T O L U S P N A C E M T E G R A M B T T T E E H I N R O T N FIELD DESCRIPTION L AN 04 00001 N/A RECORD TYPE INDICATOR. PFR2: PREFERRED ROUTE SEGMENT DATA L AN 0005 00005 DLID ORIGIN FACILITY LOCATION IDENTIFIER L AN 0005 00010 DLID DESTINATION FACILITY LOCATION IDENTIFIER L AN 0003 00015 DLID TYPE OF PREFERRED ROUTE (CODE) L, H ,LPD, HPD, SLD, SHD, TEC, NAR (FULLY DESCRIBED BELOW) R N 0002 00018 DLID ROUTE IDENTIFIER SEQUENCE NUMBER (1-99) L AN 0003 00020 PR23/4 SEGMENT SEQUENCE NUMBER WITHIN THE ROUTE L AN 0048 00023 PR23/4 SEGMENT IDENTIFIER (NAVAID IDENT, AWY NUMBER FIX NAME, DP NAME, STAR NAME) L AN 0007 00071 GEN SEGMENT TYPE (DESCRIBED) AIRWAY,FIX,DP,STAR,NAVAID,UNKNOWN L AN 0002 00078 PR23 FIX STATE CODE - POST OFFICE ALPHA CODE BLANK IF NOT A FIX SEGMENT L AN 0002 00080 N/A ICAO REGION CODE L AN 0002 00082 PR23 NAVAID FACILITY TYPE (CODE) C,D,F,L,M,MD,O,OD,R,RD,T,U,V CODES ARE DESCRIBED BELOW BLANK IF NOT A NAVAID SEGMENT L AN 0020 00084 PR23 NAVAID FACILITY TYPE (DESCRIBED) BLANK IF NOT A NAVAID SEGMENT CODE DESCRIPTION ---- ------------------------ C VORTAC D VOR-DME F FAN MARKER L LFR M MARINE NDB MD MARINE NDB/DME O VOT OD DME R NDB RD NDB/DME T TACAN U UHF NDB V VOR L AN 0007 00104 PR23 RADIAL AND DISTANCE FROM NAVAID RRR OR RRR/DDD BLANK IF NOT A NAVAID SEGMENT BLANK IF SEGMENT IS DIRECTLY TO THE NAVAID L AN 0234 00111 N/A BLANK