Forgot to Close Flight Plan

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Well, a mistake I told myself I would never make happened yesterday. Short round-robin flight away from my towered home field, gone just over an hour, but I filed a flight plan anyway. Great flight, good landing, I put the plane away and drove home in gleeful obliviousness.

I remembered this morning.

I called FSS and owned up to it. The briefer checked and said they called the tower when I was overdue, and the tower verified that I'd already landed. No apparent issue with them, but might I still expect a letter from the FAA or, gulp, enforcement action of some kind?

And what should I buy the tower for lunch for apparently saving my a$$?
 
Unregistered said:
Well, a mistake I told myself I would never make happened yesterday. Short round-robin flight away from my towered home field, gone just over an hour, but I filed a flight plan anyway. Great flight, good landing, I put the plane away and drove home in gleeful obliviousness.

I remembered this morning.

I called FSS and owned up to it. The briefer checked and said they called the tower when I was overdue, and the tower verified that I'd already landed. No apparent issue with them, but might I still expect a letter from the FAA or, gulp, enforcement action of some kind?

And what should I buy the tower for lunch for apparently saving my a$$?
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That's what they do....not a huge deal.

I encourage my students to use a cellphone number as a contact number so they are easily reached if they forget. Some have underestimated their flight times and had their cellphones ringing in the air. They usually call the number in the flight plan first, then the tower.
 
LDJones said:
That's what they do....not a huge deal.

I encourage my students to use a cellphone number as a contact number so they are easily reached if they forget. Some have underestimated their flight times and had their cellphones ringing in the air. They usually call the number in the flight plan first, then the tower.
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I asked the briefer about that, since I do have my cell number listed on my flight plan and it never rang. She said they will usually call the tower first if there's one available, then go to the contact information.
 
I just talked to the FAA about your situation. We decided the punishment will be sending a 12 pack to me. Budlite please! :lol:
 
Unregistered said:
I asked the briefer about that, since I do have my cell number listed on my flight plan and it never rang. She said they will usually call the tower first if there's one available, then go to the contact information.
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Interesting....a couple of weeks ago we got a call barely after shutdown after a dual x-c at KFCM. Maybe our tower isn't as helpful! :dunno:
 
Old Geek said:
Our hanger has a big sign in the parking lot "Did you close your flight plan?"
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I've seen those around, but there isn't one in our hangar... Yet.

Thanks again to everyone for the information and reassurance.
 
I did the same thing right after i got my PPL. Landed out because the home field had gone IFR. Forgot to close my flight plan, was waiting for someone to come get me, and a sheriff's car pulled up to the airport and said i'm looking for the pilot of this plane. I said it's me, and he said the FAA is looking for you. Called FSS, told them i was fine and forgot to close my flight plan. End of story. No big deal. The worse part was trying to explain to my passenger why the FAA was lookign for us
 
I did that once landing at Crescent City under heavy IFR (I shot the ILS approach all the way to minimums.) It's non towered so no automatic IFR cancellation. I didn't actually forget, I just couldn't raise approach from the ground. Much to the consternation of a departing medevac flight, who was held there until I could dial up FSS on the phone and relay the cancellation.
 
LDJones said:
That's what they do....not a huge deal.

I encourage my students to use a cellphone number as a contact number so they are easily reached if they forget. Some have underestimated their flight times and had their cellphones ringing in the air. They usually call the number in the flight plan first, then the tower.
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Actually I think that is not the case. On a recent trip to KJQF before Thanksgiving i suddenly remembered I hadn't closed my flight plan. I called FSS and they indicated they knew I was down and ok. My assumption was they called the JQF tower to get that info. I went and check my plan and the contact number I left was my cell number and there were no missed calls.
 
Unregistered said:
Well, a mistake I told myself I would never make happened yesterday. Short round-robin flight away from my towered home field, gone just over an hour, but I filed a flight plan anyway. Great flight, good landing, I put the plane away and drove home in gleeful obliviousness.

I remembered this morning.

I called FSS and owned up to it. The briefer checked and said they called the tower when I was overdue, and the tower verified that I'd already landed. No apparent issue with them, but might I still expect a letter from the FAA or, gulp, enforcement action of some kind?
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Unlikely. This is a fairly common occurrence. VFR flight plan to a towered field, pilot lands but forgets to close the flight plan, the search begins and ends with a call to the control tower. No further action taken.

And what should I buy the tower for lunch for apparently saving my a$$?
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No lunch, donuts. Lots and lots of donuts.
 
Kelvin said:
Doesn't the tower close VFR flight plans too?
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Tower doesn't know if you've filed a VFR flight plan. They might call FSS to close your flight plan if asked, but FSS doesn't answer calls from ATC any faster than from pilots.
 
A related question -- Do they start the clock from the time of departure that you put in your flight plan, or when you actually open the plan with FSS from the air? I've had them chase me down twice right after tie-down, and I don't think I was much over my ETE for either, though I did leave after my ETD in both cases.
 
roddie said:
A related question -- Do they start the clock from the time of departure that you put in your flight plan, or when you actually open the plan with FSS from the air? I've had them chase me down twice right after tie-down, and I don't think I was much over my ETE for either, though I did leave after my ETD in both cases.
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Hmm... let's think about that... We have a plane that is overdue on flight that may or may not have ever launched?
The answer is, the clock starts when you open your flight plan.

If you've been chased down twice, you might consider rethinking what you think isn't "much over (your) ETE." Or ask, if it happens again.
Maybe you have an overly-concerned FSS? Or, maybe they know something about your flying habits? :eek: ;)
 
JoeSelch said:
Hmm... let's think about that... We have a plane that is overdue on flight that may or may not have ever launched?
The answer is, the clock starts when you open your flight plan.
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The assumption is that they know you've launched because you open it in the air :p, but do they retroactively start the clock from your filed ETD was my question.

If you've been chased down twice, you might consider rethinking what you think isn't "much over (your) ETE." Or ask, if it happens again.
Maybe you have an overly-concerned FSS? Or, maybe they know something about your flying habits? :eek: ;)
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Haha.. I haven't been flying long enough to have earned a reputation, yet.

My ETE was pretty accurate in both cases. The second time it happened, I was literally tying down the plane when my cell rang. I didn't do the math, but I couldn't have been more than ten minutes over. In both cases, however, I left almost an hour after my original ETD due to delay, which is what caused me to wonder.
 
roddie said:
The assumption is that they know you've launched because you open it in the air :p, but do they retroactively start the clock from your filed ETD was my question.



Haha.. I haven't been flying long enough to have earned a reputation, yet.

My ETE was pretty accurate in both cases. The second time it happened, I was literally tying down the plane when my cell rang. I didn't do the math, but I couldn't have been more than ten minutes over. In both cases, however, I left almost an hour after my original ETD due to delay, which is what caused me to wonder.
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Sorry - misinterpreted you, thinking that you were asking whether the clock started at the filed time of departure, regardless of whether the plan was opened. :eek:

BTW - when you open your plan, you can tell them what time you were or will be off. Some people open it by phone (finding it to be a more reliable way to get a connection) just prior to departure - "activate flight plan 5 minutes from now."
 
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When Lockheed first took over FSS duties, I got a call on my cell about 15 minutes before my declared ETA. Luckily I was already on the ground and had my cell on and within reach.

I asked why the call, my ETA was not up yet?

Oh, we are proactive.

Flying in Canada, flight plans mandatory, automatically open on planned time of departure. So if you dont depart, or cancel the flight, need to call and cancel. Tower, CARS, or FSS on airfields automatically close flight plans for you.
 
I had something odd happen to me last summer...I arrived at Cape May, called the FSS to close my flight plan, they said I was all closed out. Then when I got back to the plane and was getting ready to jump in and leave, the airport manager pulled up and said that Flight Service had called about me and that he told them we were safely tied down. Weird.
 
I once was on a VFR flight plan, but when the weather turned, I picked up IFR into an in controlled field. I did remember to cancel IFR with approach control, but completely forgot about the previous VFR flight plan. When I called back about 2h later, they did say that the VFR flight plan was cancelled too.

They must have found the crumbs from my IFR approach in the system and closed the VFR plan. But I guess upon cancelling IFR I should have told them to cancel my VfR flight plan as well.
 
Unregistered said:
I once was on a VFR flight plan, but when the weather turned, I picked up IFR into an in controlled field. I did remember to cancel IFR with approach control, but completely forgot about the previous VFR flight plan. When I called back about 2h later, they did say that the VFR flight plan was cancelled too.
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Methinks you meant "an uncontrolled field".

They must have found the crumbs from my IFR approach in the system and closed the VFR plan. But I guess upon cancelling IFR I should have told them to cancel my VfR flight plan as well.
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Cancelling the IFR at the destination requires no action by the controller, cancelling the VFR requires a phone call to FSS. FSS doesn't answer phone calls from ATC any faster than it does phone calls from pilots.
 
Old Geek said:
Our hanger has a big sign in the parking lot "Did you close your flight plan?"
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They need to have one in the restrooms. One forgets the little things when your bladder is about to burst after a three hour flight. :lol:
 
DeeG said:
They need to have one in the restrooms. One forgets the little things when your bladder is about to burst after a three hour flight. :lol:
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They can put it at the end of this sign at SLR:
 

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I've been called on my cell a couple of times.

An old CFI told me a trick. If you normally wear your watch right side up, when you open a VFR flight plan, put it on upside down.

When you land, for most folks it'll but you enough that it'll be a reminder to close.

I also always use the cell number. Having AFRCC call a loved one asking if you're safe will scare the bejeezus out of them.

Disadvantage... If the cell dies and you forget...
 
Jaybird180 said:
What in the world did pilots do before cellphones? The horror...
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They were blissfully ignorant...until tracked down.

I haven't seen any stats, but I suspect there were a whole lot more man hours and consequently money wasted trying to track people down before cell phones.
 
I got a call at the house (the listed airport number call forwards to me) with the FAA inquiring if a certain plane was on field.

I've also had ATC ask inflight if I could pop over to UNICOM at a nearby field and check to see if some pilot who didn't close was on the ground there.

Nothing however was unnerving was to have the DHS Air and Marine Operations Center call me and ask who just DEPARTED my airport into the Obama TFR.
 
I like real beer, but just can't drink it. Too many calories. The only exception is Tiger beer, found in Southeast Asia. I can drink that stuff and lose weight. But on the other hand I'm not eating over there like I do here.

So here I drink either wine or scotch. I've been hella quaffing Jameson these days.
 
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