A reminder for IFR pilots- close your flight plan!

[Bill Watson]

That would be a GCO or RCO. N07 lists this in the airport communications block of the Chart Supplement:
"GCO 121.725 (MILLVILLE RADIO)"

When I landed at Elko, NV a few years back, I needed to cancel my VFR flight plan. There was a giant sign on the ramp showing the RCO freq, but, failing that, it was published in the Chart Supplement as well:
"RCO 122.60 (RENO RADIO)"

So, it is indeed published somewhere: the Chart Supplement.

Not picking at nits. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten a GCO/RCO connection to work, I’ve stopped trying. Phone is more reliable even given slightly spotty cellular coverage.


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[cowman]

I’m thinking the RCO/GCO information may not be kept well updated or just may be listed in a confusing way.

Here’s my home airport…


I see St Louis radio says “RCO” by it. I don’t know if that works, never used it. Kansas City on 126.225 is who we call on the ground for clearance. Does the RCO mean that both frequencies are reachable here?


Here’s another I know we’ll, 2I0



Evansville approach can hear you on the ground there and will issue a clearance. What I’m reading in the AF/D implies to me I need to do it by phone. I can’t remember if I found out because a controller told me or if they had a sign up in the FBO. Either way it works.

Sometimes after getting cleared for an approach controllers will say something like “you can cancel in the air or on the ground this frequency”

 

[coma24]

Picking at nits: You can't cancel a VFR flight plan. It must be closed.

Quite right, I meant 'closed' but had a brain fart.

 

[coma24]

I see St Louis radio says “RCO” by it. I don’t know if that works, never used it. Kansas City on 126.225 is who we call on the ground for clearance. Does the RCO mean that both frequencies are reachable here?

The RCO should work, however, it's generally more efficient to talk to the local ARTCC or tracon than Flight Service, because in order for the St Louis FSS to issue your clearance, guess who they're going to call on the phone? The ARTCC or tracon, then they'll relay the clnc to you. If a local tracon or ARTCC freq is listed, I would certainly call that first. Just because there is an RCO which lets you reach Flight Service, that doesn't mean it's the best vehicle to get your clearance.

Evansville approach can hear you on the ground there and will issue a clearance. What I’m reading in the AF/D implies to me I need to do it by phone.

They recently started publishing numbers for the ARTCC/tracons for each airport. However, that doesn't mean that's preferred over the use of published freqs in cases where those freqs work on the ground.

The only thing I'm less sure about is the existence of a published clnc del freq at a non-towered airport in ADDITION to a working ARTCC/tracon freq, such as 120.10 at Madisonville Regional. What is the purpose/benefit of the CD freq, and which facility does it reach? The only thing I can think of is that it's the Flight Data position at the tracon, whereas the tracon freq is the active controller. If that were the case, though, I would think that while they're cool with cancelling IFR for you, a call for an initial IFR clearance would be met with, "contact approach on 120.10, they'll have it for you..."

If anyone has more info on that, I'd love to hear it.

 

[penaltyvectors]

They recently started publishing numbers for the ARTCC/tracons for each airport. However, that doesn't mean that's preferred over the use of published freqs in cases where those freqs work on the ground.

The only thing I'm less sure about is the existence of a published clnc del freq at a non-towered airport in ADDITION to a working ARTCC/tracon freq, such as 120.10 at Madisonville Regional. What is the purpose/benefit of the CD freq, and which facility does it reach? The only thing I can think of is that it's the Flight Data position at the tracon, whereas the tracon freq is the active controller. If that were the case, though, I would think that while they're cool with cancelling IFR for you, a call for an initial IFR clearance would be met with, "contact approach on 120.10, they'll have it for you..."

If anyone has more info on that, I'd love to hear it.

Like most things, it's probably gonna vary wildly based on the specific facility. Where I work, we have several uncontrolled fields that run the gamut of these options. A few can get our main frequency on the ground, so the radar controller usually reads clearances and issues releases on the control frequency - which can lead to significant delays if we're busy. This is by far my least favorite option because it obviously cuts off instructions from getting to all our airborne traffic while we're spelling out dozens of new fixes.

Two of our airports have RCOs, so usually the flight data person will pick up that frequency and read a clearance, but if we don't have the staffing to open FD separately (pretty common these days), the radar controller will handle that as well. Even if it's the same controller, having a separate frequency is way better since you can be reading back your full route clearance while we're handling other traffic. And even if FD is staffed, if the radar controller is waiting on a cancellation, he'll usually listen on the RCO so he can hear it directly - but if he's not, the FD guy would simply tell the radar controller "hey, N123 cancelled" rather than ask him to switch to another frequency.

A few airports don't have any frequency reception at all and we have to use the phone. We used to just give out the number for the supervisor's desk, which was a pain because it's the same number used by HR for random personnel questions, people calling in sick, and (believe it or not) telemarketers, and you'd have to stretch the cord over to the scope and juggle a telephone handset along with your headset. But we recently got a dedicated line that connects straight into our headsets which makes it way easier. Now pretty much everyone I work with prefers to use the phone line if possible, even when we have RCOs available - unlike a radio, it's full-duplex so we don't need to wait for the other party to stop talking, and it keeps the frequency clear for airborne traffic. Most of our "regulars" now just call on the CD phone number even if for some reason it's not published for their airport.

 

[coma24]

Like most things, it's probably gonna vary wildly based on the specific facility...

I quoted a random part, just so that you'd be tagged, but really just wanted to thank you for helping to confirm that the RCO goes to the FD position. Very interesting to know about the phone, that's a great point about being full duplex. I know that's helpful when picking up clncs at my home airport. We have a GCO there which is pretty awful, it times out (hangs up the phone line) if you don't transmit frequently. As a result, we either cancel in the air (which N90 prefers, since it happens sooner), or we make the phone call on the ground to cancel.

 

[JimNtexas]

I have been able to cancel IFR by relaying through the next airplane on the freq.