VFR flight plan - why?

File VFR flight plan? No. Before I was IR, I always got Flight Following. If one controller couldn't do it, I just asked the next one. Never had a problem.

The only one time I did a VFR flight plan was during PPL training.
 
deyoung said:
Dumb question perhaps, but - who routinely files a VFR flight plan, and if you do, why?

I generally don't, but I always use flight following, which is easier and seems to have most of the same benefits. I am dumb? Why or why not? :)
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Maybe some pilots are antisocial and don’t want to talk on the radio.
 
I was thinking about this thread.... a primary reason I can think to NOT file...is that it's too easy to forget to cancel it.
 
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With Flight Following you also get a quick response if you stop talking to ATC. Not so with a flight plan.
 
Brad W said:
I was thinking about this thread.... a primary reason I can think to NOT file...is that it's too easy to forget to cancel it.
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When I did file VFR (mostly flying around Alaska) I used the trick of putting my watch on the opposite wrist. That always seemed to work.
 
Brad W said:
I was thinking about this thread.... a primary reason I can think to NOT file...is that it's too easy to forget to cancel it.
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You can setup an account with WxBrief and do it via your phone.

About 10 years ago they wouldn't close the flight plan in the air (VFR FP) requiring me to close after landing at the destination (mountan area). Return trip next day as I was calling to activate the return, person on line indicates they previous one was still open ... I asked why no one was looking or calling then? They got real quiet, stammered that the new flight plan was activated and hung up.

The text messages to activate and cancel are better. Article said it'd still be 12-72 hours to get located unless 406 ELT or PLB. I only do these as a backup for route, normally a family member will be send an easy (KELP-KPEQ-KAQO-KEDC) type path and ETD.
 
Brad W said:
I was thinking about this thread.... a primary reason I can think to NOT file...is that it's too easy to forget to cancel it.
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I have forgotten, they call you to check in... and you just tell them to close it. Not a big deal.
 
I was vacationing in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, when I got a call from Minneapolis Center asking if there was a certain airplane on the parking ramp at my airport. I recognized the voice, she had called me before. (I am on the contact list for our airport.) When I told her I was in the Virgin Islands, she said she was jealous. February in Minnesota is a bit colder than where I was.

It was on a Saturday, and I asked her if looking for folks who had not cancelled IFR was how she spent most Saturdays. She indicated it was.
 
Randomskylane said:
That’s right, either you file a SFRA flight plan or you head west from Leesburg using the Leesburg Maneuvering Area exemption.

A vfr flight plan would be a separate plan and is not required for the non SFRA portion of the flight
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Correct. I should have said DC SFRA flight plan for that situation. Regardless it’s a flight plan for a VFR flight.
 
deyoung said:
Dumb question perhaps, but - who routinely files a VFR flight plan, and if you do, why?

I generally don't, but I always use flight following, which is easier and seems to have most of the same benefits. I am dumb? Why or why not? :)
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Me, whenever I fly with my wife or kids. Not so much for traffic advisories as for being on frequency should anything go wrong. With a code, you’ve got a hit brother watching your back.
 
deyoung said:
Dumb question perhaps, but - who routinely files a VFR flight plan, and if you do, why?
I generally don't, but I always use flight following, which is easier and seems to have most of the same benefits. I am dumb? Why or why not? :)
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Most of the benefits of a VFR flight plan can be done in other ways. Flight following, contact approach frequencies along your route, calling in an emergency to report your position so rescuers can find you, etc.

One benefit that cannot be done in other ways is international flights. If you want to cross an international border VFR, you must be on an active flight plan and flight service will assign you a border crossing squawk code.
 
A 406 ELT is no substitute for a flight plan.

From https://www.aviationconsumer.com/safety/is-a-406-elt-worth-it-reduce-expectations/

As for beacon activation irrespective of whether it actually aided in crash location, on the whole for both types, they worked as intended in about 54 percent of the accidents, but failed in 42 percent. The rest were unknown. When the beacons are sorted, the numbers get too small to make definitive conclusions, but using the 2017 data, the 121.5 MHz models fired as intended in 38 percent of the accidents, the 406 MHz beacons a bit better at 50 percent.

From https://smartpilot.ca/elt-overview

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I have found way too many 406s improperly installed. The installation manuals have lots of detail on the LEGAL 406 ELT and antenna mounting requirements, cable routing and damage mitigation, yet too many are just screwed onto the old ELT mounting location. Totally inadequate. When the airplane crashes the ELT tears loose and goes flying and rips its antenna cable off, or the sudden massive vibrations cause the G-switch to fail to activate properly. I can't understand why anyone would take an expensive and important thing like that and install it so cheaply and carelessly that it's almost worthless.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
I use flight following. The only time I've gotten rejected due to controller workload was in Chicago and Phoenix metro, where search-and-rescue would be the least of my concerns. In these areas my forced landing will probably be lived-streamed on TikTok by a bystander before flight services ever knows there's a problem. I've never had an issue picking up flight following in less congested airspace.
The bigger concern is flying in areas where radio comms don't work. Happened on some of my longer XCs to the southwest where they'd say "I'm going to lose you, try back every 10 miles". Then you fly 30 miles w/o talking to anyone (can feel like an eternity at night time lol). There I can see the value of a flight-plan, especially if cutting over rough terrain where it wouldn't be obvious you disappeared.
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True, it is hard to miss if you go down on a busy expressway, but don't under-estimate how small these populated areas are. You don't have to go too far outside even busiest areas like Chicago and Detroit to be in corn fields or forests. If you crash in the middle of the night at the center of a large corn field, and there is no fire, do you think anyone will notice? If you are lucky you will wake up and walk to the nearest house. if you are not lucky, you could stay there for days.
 
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Here in Australia they prefer you to have filed a flight plan before offering flight following. Cheers.
 
Mongoose Aviator said:
DC SFRA does not require the filing of a VFR flight plan.
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Well, it takes one marked as IFR, same as with the FRZ.

I was one of the first people to get FRZ clearance having been based at VKX on 9/11. The FAA guy was making a big thing about how difficult it was going to be to get the VFR plans from the Leesburg AFSS to the various tracons (this was before the Potomac consolidation). I asked why they just didn't put them in as IFR. He marched me over to the FSS guys and asked them the same question. "Of course, we're going to put them in as IFR. How else would it work?" Sometimes FAA management (and this guy had been a controller before moving up through management) is really divorced from practice.
 
No transponder, no ADSB, no flight following.
VFR flight plan is the only option available.

As for the ELT: I don't think mine has ever been turned on, except for testing during the annual. It requires a contortionist with much longer arms than mine and at least one extra joint in their arm to reach the switch.
 
Shepherd said:
As for the ELT: I don't think mine has ever been turned on, except for testing during the annual. It requires a contortionist with much longer arms than mine and at least one extra joint in their arm to reach the switch.
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I guess if you’re gonna crash, you need to go full throttle to make sure to activate the inertial switch. :eek:
 
Clip4 said:
Maybe some pilots are antisocial and don’t want to talk on the radio.
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How do you open the flight plan then? I got over my timidity with ATC after being based at IAD for a few years.
 
Shepherd said:
No transponder, no ADSB, no flight following.
VFR flight plan is the only option available.

As for the ELT: I don't think mine has ever been turned on, except for testing during the annual. It requires a contortionist with much longer arms than mine and at least one extra joint in their arm to reach the switch.
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There was a T-33 parked in front of our ops building at Airventure. The CAP kids came up with their ELT locator to find that it had its ELT going off. The owner spent an our opening up access panels trying to find where to reset it.
 
flyingron said:
Well, it takes one marked as IFR, same as with the FRZ.

I was one of the first people to get FRZ clearance having been based at VKX on 9/11. The FAA guy was making a big thing about how difficult it was going to be to get the VFR plans from the Leesburg AFSS to the various tracons (this was before the Potomac consolidation). I asked why they just didn't put them in as IFR. He marched me over to the FSS guys and asked them the same question. "Of course, we're going to put them in as IFR. How else would it work?" Sometimes FAA management (and this guy had been a controller before moving up through management) is really divorced from practice.
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It needs to be marked IFR so that a squawk code is assigned.
 
Pinecone said:
It needs to be marked IFR so that a squawk code is assigned.
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All part of the same thing. It needs to be marked IFR or else the TRACON never sees it at all. VFR plans don't get routed to ATC. In fact, the whole stupidity of the various "SFRA" gates is to make sure that they get routed to the right controller. This was a small improvement over the initial disaster where they produced a video that attempted a (then) ADIZ entry from EMI which is in ZNY's airspace and they had no clue who the pilot calling was. I can't believe the FAA had the audacity to show this screw up as an example of how to do things at one of the pilot meetings right after this got started.
 
Do. Or don't. I usally file IFR, but when VFR I don't use flight following and seldom file a flight plan. Flight following is OK, maybe better in the boonies, but once you accept it you gotta take vectors if given - or at least that's what I heard the FAA general counsel decide a while back. Sometimes radio silence is nice. . .

I operated out of the FRZ around DC for a few years - that was, for practical purposes, essentially an IFR flight plan - they just cut you loose once clear of the SFRA. CAP callout can be quick, or real, real slow. I was flying a CAP plane on the eastern shore of MD when an ELT came up. I called Potomac, but they wern't hearing it. I had to go back to the home drome (Fort Meade), make some calls, muck about for an hour or so, then someone else got sent back across the bay to DF it. By which time the pilot had walked out of the field and hailed a ride. They did find the (now empty) airplane. . .
 
If you're going to get into real trouble, it's most likely going to be during the takeoff or landing phases of flight - the phases when you won't be on flight following.

Flying VFR, I always file a VFR search and rescue flight plan, then request flight following in the air. I then terminate flight following when I approach the destination airport, then cancel the flight plan on the ground.

This is especially the case when I operate out of an uncontrolled (often rural) airport. If something happens during takeoff or landing, then I'm covered. I can be reasonably sure that someone will come out looking for me if something is amiss.

(For the same reason, I only cancel IFR on the ground when flying into an uncontrolled airport.)

With Foreflight, VFR flights plans are easy. File the flight plan from the app, activate it from the app, then cancel it from the app. (Similar products may do likewise.)

Speaking as an air search-and-rescue volunteer, when an aircraft goes missing, the more information the search coordinator and the search team have, the better. Flight following won't have a phone number for you, or the colour scheme of the missing aircraft. That would be on the flight plan.

Regarding ELTs, they are no doubt nice to have, but in the event of a crash, a light GA aircraft is most likely going to flip over onto its back - exactly where the ELT antenna is. It'll be sending a rescue signal directly into terra firma rather than the search party's homing device.

PLBs are great, but please carry them on your person - not in your flight bag. That way, you have them already if you must evacuate pronto.
 
romacpher said:
... PLBs are great, but please carry them on your person - not in your flight bag. That way, you have them already if you must evacuate pronto.
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More generally, in an emergency landing/ditching, assume you'll depart the aircraft with nothing but what is physically attached to your person. The most important things you need, PLB, blanket, life vest, etc. ensure you are wearing them.
 
MRC01 said:
in an emergency landing/ditching, assume you'll depart the aircraft with nothing but what is physically attached to your person.
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So is that why everyone was complaining about PoA shirts not having pockets?
 
The last time I filed a VFR flight plan was 22 years ago for my solo cross country flight. Once I got my license, I did flight following routinely. I live in the western US and have never been denied a request for FF. It is far superior to VFR flightplan for many reasons, not the least of which is traffic alerts.
 
I use flight following when doing vfr cross countries,or going over rough terrain,or water. I don’t usually file a vFR flight plan as my route is not always set in stone. I do however file An IFR fight plan when needed.
 
I generally do not file VFR flight plans but I have recently filed IFR flight plans even though I fly VFR. It was suggested to me by a flight briefer. Apparently if you file a VFR flight plan it is not available to ATC to look at and reference during your flight. But if you file IFR, and tell ATC it is there when you ask for flight following, they can see your intended route of flight and reference it as needed.

I sometimes fly from Culpeper VA up to the Detroit area and the best way to access my destination is to cross the SW portion of their airspace from Toledo to Ann Arbor above 6500 feet. It has always been a crap shoot with them as to how they would let me pass. Now ATC has a reference to look at when I request transition from Toledo OH to Dexter MI, and they have been more willing to grant my request as filed.

Hope this helps

PS I also have a SPOT locator in the Cockpit. The subscription was about $160/year but after I got ADSB I let it expire, so it only provides emergency location. I might get a monthly subscription. We'll see.
 
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Interesting. You file an IFR plan but don’t activate it. You get flight following. Even though the never activated IFR plan is dropped from the system they can still see it?
 
WDD said:
Interesting. You file an IFR plan but don’t activate it. You get flight following. Even though the never activated IFR plan is dropped from the system they can still see it?
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When you call in to get VFR flight following, and you let them know you have an IFR flight plan but intend to fly VFR, they can access the flight plan during your trip. That is what they used to do with the Washington ADIZ before it became the SFRA. The original instructions requested filing an IFR flight plan for ADIZ penetration, even if flying VFR.
 
FYI

Who can file an instrument flight plan?


To file an IFR flight plan, the pilot(s) must be IFR rated and able to keep an aircraft in controlled flight solely on the data provided by the aircraft's instrumentation.
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flyingron said:
How do you open the flight plan then? I got over my timidity with ATC after being based at IAD for a few years.
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You can open and close a VFR flight plan within Foreflight (and likely other EFB apps), or by text message with FSS.
 
Well I remember back in the days when we didn't have GPS or cellphones or internet or personal computers and you used FSS so you could get an idea of the weather and the predicted winds so you'd have an idea of how you were going to calculate your way to your destination but even then we didn't always file a flight plan other than as a student when they required you to. In Canada it's different on account of the vast expanses of uninhabited wilderness but don't be fooled because there is actually a lot of it down here too. You've undoubtably heard of the infamous Bermuda Triangle but far more aircraft have disappeared without a trace ever having been found over the continental United States than out over that dastardly patch of ocean. Nowadays we've got the magenta line, Foreflight, real-time weather, winds, sigmets, notams, pireps, PLB's, cellphones and even emailed breadcrumb trails to buddies. What could possibly go wrong?
 
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