VFR into controlled field.. Who closes flight plan?

If you take off with a VFR flight plan and pick up an IFR clearance en-route, you will still have to cancel the VFR portion of the flight plan after landing.
 
creweite said:
If you take off with a VFR flight plan and pick up an IFR clearance en-route, you will still have to cancel the VFR portion of the flight plan after landing.
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Is the requirement to "remain VFR" that would have come with the VFR flight plan still applicable once you've picked up the IFR clearance? If so, if clouds are penetrated or VFR clearances busted, what sort of enforcement action could/should one expect with regards to their license/certificate and associated ratings? ;)
 
BellyUpFish said:
Wow....... Out of all that, you take issue with the post count??

We are clearly internettin' now.

I wasn't questioning your ability to post count.

You essentially said "How a post like this goes over 140 posts?"

To that question I replied with a very simple, or so I thought, picture..

Let's try it again...
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Ahhhh.

But I guess you make the point for the need for clarity in communication. Thanks. :D
 
BellyUpFish said:
Is the requirement to "remain VFR" that would have come with the VFR flight plan still applicable once you've picked up the IFR clearance? If so, if clouds are penetrated or VFR clearances busted, what sort of enforcement action could/should one expect with regards to their license/certificate and associated ratings? ;)
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No because it's an IFR flight plan now.
 
mscard88 said:
:eek::rolleyes: thar ya go again! ;)
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I can play this like Lionel Richie.. All night long.. ;)

Check this out.. I got flight following through some C today...

32db60f7aa27458ef817059c1b8c0dfa.jpg
 
Nah, it was just flight following. Had I filed VFR, I would have been horrified, assuming I could figure out how to file....
 
Yeh, that's it.. I knew it was one of them..
 
mscard88 said:
you're a fast learner :)
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Only VFR plan I ever remember filing, I don't remember anyone closing and we landed at a controlled tower, I was but a wee lad and my instructor apparently wasn't the best. ;)

Rule of primacy and all that I guess..

Hasn't really mattered to me before this thread, won't really matter afterwards either, but at least now I know. ;)

Better late than never.
 
Theboys said:
If you don't close it they will start calling to locate you pretty shortly. Sometimes even when you do:)
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Winner!

I stopped using a VFR flight plan after a trip to Carlsbad NM. I called FSS to cancel in the air and they said they "preferred a call when on the ground" (I had closed in the air often and used to use VFR FPs all the time) ... OK, so land and close on the ground.

Next day, return trip I call to activate my flight plan and they tell me the previous day's FP was never closed. "Really?," I say, "Then why isn't someone looking for me?". I suddenly get,"Flight plan activated and please call FlightWatch for enroute weather."... then click ....

It's easier to just text a route and ETA to someone you trust and call them when you land. Besides, the service is going to probably cost $50 with this administration.:(
 
I hate to dig this one up again, after it finally seems to have fizzled, but...

I just wanted to throw this out there, Monday I did a dual XC for night requirements, I had filed a flight plan via 1800wxbrief, but not activated it. I was going to call by phone and my cfi said he would just show me how to open in the air via radio, if the tower declined. When I called up the tower and asked if they could activate my vfr flight plan, I was surprised that they had already found the plan and activated it for me. They replied something like 'yes, we have that and have activated'...

So, i guess your mileage may vary depending on who is working the tower and how busy they are. I didn't expect them to activate it for me, the CFI said we should ask and they had already done it. Also, the tower at the other end closed the plan on request as we were doing pattern work there.

I wonder if they have some sort of display that shows them upcoming departures even for vfr flight plans, so they knew I was coming before I called. (seemed like it).
 
exncsurfer - there are those that will agree with me and those who will disagree, but flying real life and FAR/AIM exactness are often two different things. We should ALL strive to do everything we can as by the book as we can, as Walt Schamel likes to say "The book was written in blood", but it only takes a minute to read the first page of flight following to see that this is not the case and arguments occur over the most mundane topics.

Anyone who has spent anytime in a simulator will be familiar with the phrase (or one similar to it) "real world vs sim world." That is essentially to say "while everything is supposed to be by the book, the real world often isn't" and that is summed up with your statement - your mileage may vary.
 
exncsurfer said:
I wonder if they have some sort of display that shows them upcoming departures even for vfr flight plans, so they knew I was coming before I called. (seemed like it).
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Been out of ATC since '88, but I don't recall "strips" for VFR flights coming out of the printer. Maybe it does now though.
 
BellyUpFish said:
Anyone who has spent anytime in a simulator will be familiar with the phrase (or one similar to it) "real world vs sim world." That is essentially to say "while everything is supposed to be by the book, the real world often isn't" and that is summed up with your statement - your mileage may vary.
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So true about the sim. Can humble anyone. Hated that thing! :D
 
mscard88 said:
So true about the sim. Can humble anyone. Hated that thing! :D
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I think anyone who claims to enjoy it is very truthful.. ;)

Sure, you can learn a lot, but I don't think I ever went into a sim looking forward to it. ;)
 
Especially when we had to do it every 6 months. We nicknamed it a "job check". Fortunately my airline had a great training department and realistic IPs.
 
mscard88 said:
Been out of ATC since '88, but I don't recall "strips" for VFR flights coming out of the printer. Maybe it does now though.
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They do, and they did in '88 too, but these are not VFR flight plans filed with FSS.

When filing a flight plan if "VFR" is selected as the type of flight plan the data stays with FSS.

If "IFR" is selected the data goes to ATC. If "VFR" is entered as the altitude there'll be strips for VFR flights coming out of the printer.
 
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mscard88 said:
Especially when we had to do it every 6 months. We nicknamed it a "job check". Fortunately my airline had a great training department and realistic IPs.
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Yep.. I remember when the opportunity to lose your job every 6 months was too much.. I got out of 121 flying and now have the opportunity every 5 weeks......
 
Thanks. I was an USAF controller, maybe that's why I don't recall seeing that (out of the printer). Think I do recall making a manual strip for flight following or some one VFR in the local area.
 
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Sometimes I get the feeling that pilots, especially new ones, expect ATC techniques to be the same. Everywhere. While ATC is more consistent than the population of pilots, there are local procedures, some published, some not, and differences between how controllers handle a certain situation. Just because something works one time is not an assurance that it will work another time in another location.
 
Everskyward said:
Sometimes I get the feeling that pilots, especially new ones, expect ATC techniques to be the same. Everywhere. While ATC is more consistent than the population of pilots, there are local procedures, some published, some not, and differences between how controllers handle a certain situation. Just because something works one time is not an assurance that it will work another time in another location.
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"Taxi towards Shea stadium, hold short of the white pavement facing the flag..."
 
mscard88 said:
Soooo what do you fly?, for the gov?, you won't kill me by asking willya?
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Fly for fun these days mostly - anything someone will let me fly for the most part. I own an RV6. I fly a Cheyenne for a local company as well. For 401K earnings, I play "FO" at a 3 reactor nuke sight these days. Depending on where in Alabama you are, I may very well be helping keep your lights on. :) Got out of flying for a living in 2012.
 
Play "FO"? What's that mean? Down by Dothan? Nosy aren't I. I'm south of B'ham a bit.
 
mscard88 said:
Play "FO"? What's that mean? Down by Dothan? Nosy aren't I. I'm south of B'ham a bit.
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I'm an assistant unit operator. In airplane jargon, its pretty equivalent to the role of FO in the cockpit. Browns Ferry, just west of KDCU.
 
OK, thanks. That was my next guess, Browns Ferry. Only two in state I think.
 
roncachamp said:
They do, and they did in '88 too, but these are not VFR flight plans filed with FSS.

When filing a flight plan if "VFR" is selected as the type of flight plan the data stays with FSS.

If "IFR" is selected the data goes to ATC. If "VFR" is entered as the altitude there'll be strips for VFR flights coming out of the printer.
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You are confusing me with this statement. You say "They do" in answer to the question that VFR flights come out of a printer, and then follow that up with "these are not VFR flight plans". The post he was replying to was my post regarding a VFR flight plan which the tower seemed to already know about, before I called them.
 
exncsurfer said:
You are confusing me with this statement. You say "They do" in answer to the question that VFR flights come out of a printer, and then follow that up with "these are not VFR flight plans". The post he was replying to was my post regarding a VFR flight plan which the tower seemed to already know about, before I called them.
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I didn't answer a question in my response to mscard88, he did not ask a question:

mscard88 said:
Been out of ATC since '88, but I don't recall "strips" for VFR flights coming out of the printer. Maybe it does now though.
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Let me rephrase my response to that message:

Strips for VFR flights do come out of the printer, and they did in '88 too, but these are not VFR flight plans filed with FSS.

When filing a flight plan if "VFR" is selected as the type of flight plan the data stays with FSS.

If "IFR" is selected the data goes to ATC. If "VFR" is entered as the altitude there'll be strips for VFR flights coming out of the printer.
 
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