By Howard Deevers
A long time ago (over 20 years) and far, far away (near Chicago, IL) I was in the FBO flight planning room at Dupage (KUP), planning a flight back to Pittsburgh. A corporate pilot was also doing some flight planning in the same room. We visited briefly. He was flying a Cessna Citation, and I was flying a Piper Archer; quite a difference in performance of those two airplanes. I asked where he was going. He said to Peoria. Not so far compared to my trip to Pittsburgh from there.
He got on the phone to Flight Service and asked a few questions. I got busy with my own flight planning. After only a few minutes he said to Flight Service that he would file an IFR flight plan. I looked outside and it was as blue as Arizona on most days, and I would probably not file a flight plan at all from Dupage to Peoria. In those days we were using the Domestic Flight Plan, and you could find pads of those Flight Plans in every flight planning room at any airport you stopped at. I was writing my flight plan on one of those forms, getting ready to call Flight Service.
The corporate pilot had nothing on paper, and nothing in his hands. He filled each required space verbally with the F S specialist, without missing anything. He would be departing in about 45 minutes. Remember that in those days we needed to file an IFR flight plan at least 30 minutes in advance to give it time to get into the system. His time in route was 20 minutes.
When he finished with F S I asked if he could have made that flight VFR on a day like today? And I told him how impressed I was with his ability to fill in the blanks without even looking at a flight plan form. He said that he could go VFR, but they filed IFR for every flight no matter how long or short it would be. He also said that he had flown this route several times befoe and was very familiar with the fixes, altitudes, and any speed restrictions, and still felt that it was better to file a flight plan. I was impressed and made a mental note to file more flight plans after that.
Today we no longer find flight plan forms in pads in flight planning rooms at FBOs. After August, 2019, the ICAO Flight Plan became the standard in the U S and had already been the standard in other countries. You can file a flight plan on a computer or iPAD over wifi connections, and it gets into the system within seconds, not minutes. I still prefer to file my flight plans over the phone with a F S specialist after getting a full briefing. I have done all of my flight planning and know what route I want to fly, and if there is any reason to change that we will talk about it. The specialist will fill in the ICAO flight plan and make sure I didn't miss anything that they need on that form. I was wondering if that corporate pilot could read off a complete ICAO flight plan today like he did from memory over 20 years ago? I guess that if you are flying every day, you can remember the blanks and fill them in. I am just not one of those pilots.
Many flights we make are short and local. We don't file flight plans for those. Most training flights are in local areas or less than 50 nm from where we started and may not require a flight plan. Some flight schools DO require a flight plan to be filed for every flight; training or solo. Some pilots may view that as excessive, but it is good training in any case. Long cross-country flights, IFR or VFR should have a flight plan filed. IFR flights of any kind require a flight plan. VFR flights must be opened and closed by the pilot. How many stops have you made when you went into the FBO and saw a sign “HAVE YOU CLOSED YOUR FLIGHT PLAN?” You might even see a sign on the gate as you drive out of the airport, with that message. There are too many stories about pilots not closing the flight plan. Some are funny, but mostly it just annoys Flight Service when they have to chase us down. So DO remember to close your flight plan.
The ICAO flight plan requires more information and in a different format than “the old standard.” Our planes are equipped with more systems than they were many years ago. Now ADS-B is required in many places (IFR flights, Class B and Class C airspace for example). The type of survival equipment on board our aircraft is also something new to us. Please remember that all transportation systems around the world operate on UTC, better known to us as “Zulu Time.: Flight Service specialists live with Zulu time. ForeFlight on your iPAD can help you out on those time conversions.
Do you know that there are some regulations that require you to file a VFR flight plan? Any time you are crossing the border you need to file a flight plan, and an “eAPIIS with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). All aircraft entering or departing U S Airspace must file this electronically at least one hour before border crossing the eAPIS is filed with US Customs, not with Flight Service.
If you want to know more about these, and other subjects, come to a safety seminar sponsored by your ARIZONA PILOTS ASSOCIATION, and the FAA FASTeam at a location near you. Check the website for locations and times, and: Don’t forget to bring your wingman”