If the flight is out of the immediate area, a flight plan makes sense. The process is simple: File the flight plan by telephone or computer before takeoff (or by radio afterward), open it by radio as soon as practical after departure, update your progress on longer flights by calling flight service stations along the way, and close your flight plan upon arrival. The FAA's responsibility is equally simple: If you don't close your flight plan within 30 minutes of your estimated arrival time, the search begins. Let's look at each of the steps involved in creating and filing a flight plan.
The most common time to file a flight plan is after receiving your weather briefing. When the briefer is finished talking, simply state that you would like to file a VFR flight plan. The briefer will help you if you are unsure of the format, but it's a good idea to have a flight planning form handy. The FAA publishes Form 7233-1 for flight plans, and similar forms are commercially available. Most of the elements are straightforward, but a couple have special requirements.
In the route section of the plan, be sure to file the same route that you intend to fly. In most cases, the route is going to be direct whether you are navigating by dead reckoning or by GPS. If you plan to go from VOR to VOR, or there is a big dogleg in the route, you should say so. The more precise the route that you file, the easier it should be to locate you if you go down. If you are airborne and discover that you will have significant deviations, such as to avoid unforecast weather, it's a good idea to update your flight plan with a flight service station.
When it comes to the time en route section, many pilots file more time than they expect the trip to take. This is to allow for minor deviations as well as time to taxi in, tie down, and get to a telephone before someone calls out a search party. How much extra time you file is up to you: Just remember that if your airplane goes down early in the flight, it will be that much longer before rescue operations begin.
The number in the fuel on board section should be in time, not gallons. Rescuers use this to calculate the maximum distance that you could have flown from your last known position. The time that you file should never be less than the fuel you actually have on board.
When it comes to the telephone number section, many pilots automatically use their home numbers. But this entry isn't designed to let the FAA know where you live; it's intended to allow the FAA to contact someone who might have heard from you. Using your home phone number is fine as long as someone will be there. I only use my own number if I am headed home. That way, if I forget to close my flight plan, flight service will call me before starting a search. Although the conversation will be embarrassing, a costly search will have been avoided. On the other hand, if I am headed out of town for the weekend, I might be relaxing at the hotel pool while my telephone at home rings unanswered, leading searchers to believe that I am in trouble. Always use the telephone number of the place where you will be after the flight.
Many pilots believe that the alternate space is only used for an instrument flight plan. But many VFR flights are begun with the knowledge that weather may cause the flight to divert. Filing an alternate will simplify the initial telephone search should you forget to close your flight plan.
After filing your flight plan, you must open it. Filing your plan only readies it for use. No one will act on it until it is opened. This is usually done by radio. After leaving the surface area, you should call the nearest flight service station and ask them to open your flight plan. You might also tell them your takeoff time. Expect to hear an acknowledgment such as "Roger, Cessna Two Eight Charlie, your flight plan has been activated." At that point, the clock starts ticking on the time en route you filed.
Sometimes it pays to be creative. I used to fly late-night freight operations from a remote, unattended airfield. After departure, I needed at least 1,500 feet of altitude before I could contact flight service to open a flight plan. I worried about an engine failure right after takeoff, so I began calling flight service on the telephone after I had finished the preflight and loaded up. I would ask the specialist to open the flight plan automatically at a prearranged time and I promised to call back if the flight were canceled. The specialists were a little unsure, but after I explained my concerns - flying a single-engine airplane at night from an unattended airport - they were very cooperative.
On longer flights, it's a good idea to make position reports. These should not be confused with the position reports required by air traffic control for pilots on instrument flight plans. The majority of approach control and en route air traffic control center controllers have only a hazy idea of what a VFR flight plan is and probably wouldn't know what to do with position reports received from a VFR pilot. VFR position reports should be given to flight service stations along your route. The rationale is simple. If you depart A and report passing B on your way to C, and you fail to arrive, the initial search will be made between B and C, allowing a concentration of re-sources. This improves the chances that you will be found quickly.
Flight plans can be closed by radio as you near your destination or on the ground by telephone. Pilots often use the radio to close their plans while they are thinking of it, rather than taking a chance of having to explain why they forgot. This is fine, but you should consider that you are giving up the benefit of search and rescue at a critical time - approach and landing.
In 1968, when I was training for my private pilot certificate, a story that was widely circulated offered food for thought. The pilot of a small airplane canceled his flight plan in the air as he neared his destination. The engine quit on the turn from downwind to base, and the airplane crashed in the woods a mile short of the runway. Three of the occupants were killed. The fourth was unable to move from the wreckage. She survived for three days, keeping a journal of her awful experience before dying of her injuries. Among the things she wrote was that aircraft passed close overhead and yet no one came to help.
Where is your attention when you're on a one-mile final? It's riveted on the runway ahead, not on the terrain below. This is a strong argument for canceling your flight plan after you land. Personally, whenever I open a VFR flight plan, I take my wristwatch off of my left hand and place it on my right. That is guaranteed to bug me until I return it to its accustomed place, which I do after closing my flight plan by telephone.
If you fail to close a flight plan within 30 minutes of the time that you filed, flight service will begin to look for you. This starts with a call to your destination. If there is a tower there, controllers will have records of your arrival. If your destination is nontowered, someone from the FBO will make a ramp check. If your aircraft is found, your flight plan will be closed. Otherwise, adjacent airports, DUATS servers, and your departure airport will be called to see if any have heard from you.
If you are not at the destination (or alternate if you filed one), and are not at the phone number you filed, an inreq (information request) will be issued. Every air traffic control and flight service facility along your route will be asked to search their records to see if you contacted them. They must report back within one hour. If you still have not been found, the next step is to issue an alnot (alert notice). Airports within 50 miles of your route will be called for ramp checks. If there is no operator on the field, law enforcement agencies from the nearest town will perform the search. Again, each entity involved is asked to report back within one hour.
If all this fails to yield your location, the search passes to the Search and Rescue Command Center at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. This facility is normally manned by an officer in charge and three specialists. Emergency locator transmitter (ELT) reports will be examined, and if any match the search area, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) will investigate. Meanwhile, the telephone search will continue. If the aircraft has not been located two hours after the alnot was issued, a physical search will begin. The CAP normally conducts the search, but Langley can call in active military, National Guard, and reserve units if the officer feels their use is warranted. Realistically, from the time you were overdue to the time the first search aircraft departs, 12 to 24 hours will have elapsed. The search will continue until the officer in charge feels that every reasonable effort has been expended-generally about one week.
If you suffer an off-airport landing, you, as pilot in command, have some responsibilities. See to the immediate needs of your passengers. Remember that rescue is probably going to take some time, so carry enough clothing and water to keep everyone warm hydrated. Beyond that, consider a survival pack containing food, signaling devices, a means for making a fire, and a compass.
The golden rule of post-crash survival is to stay with the wreckage. It is easier to find an airplane than it is to find a person. Take this with a grain of salt. In the crowded Northeast, setting off in almost any direction will get you to a road within a few miles. In remote areas, or when the weather is severe, stay with the airplane.
If the radios in the airplane work, use them. The emergency frequency of 121.5 MHz is a good place to start, but don't assume that anyone is listening. Don't waste too much battery power on fruitless calls on 121.5. If you can find a busy air traffic control frequency, you will get attention sooner.
Now let's consider some misconceptions about VFR flight plans. First, do not try to involve air traffic controllers in your flight plans. They only get involved if there is a search. VFR flight plans stay strictly within the flight service network.
Unfortunately, there is a cruel coincidence in the system. En route controllers give flight following to VFR pilots. When an aircraft requests flight following, a controller enters the type of aircraft and destination into the computer so that the information will be passed from controller to controller along the way. Among controllers, this is known as a VFR flight plan. It has nothing to do with the type of flight plan that we have been discussing-one that ensures search and rescue operations. Many controllers don't know the difference.
Consider the following scenarios:
A pilot files and opens a VFR flight plan with flight service. He later gets flight following. Near his destination, he tries to close his flight plan but is unable to contact flight service. He asks if the controller can close the plan for him. The controller thinks the pilot is referring to the information that was entered into the computer system when the pilot picked up flight following. He removes the plan from the computer and takes no further action. A day later, the pilot gets a call from an FAA inspector wanting to know why he didn't close his flight plan. "But I did," the pilot says. Well, no, he didn't. If the pilot did not close the plan with a flight service specialist, he did not close it.
In the second scenario, the pilot never files a flight plan. Instead, he gets flight following. "I get flight following," he tells his friends. "If the engine quits, they know exactly where to look for me." Well, yes and no. If the controller knows that the pilot is going down, he will mark the spot and yes, they will know exactly where to look. But what if the controller does not know there is a problem? In our scenario, the pilot inadvertently flies out of radio signal coverage. The controller has no reason to believe that the pilot is in distress, and he has no responsibility to follow up. His next step will probably be to remove the flight plan from the computer and forget all about this particular pilot. If the pilot suffers an engine failure 30 miles later, he will wait for a rescue that never comes.
As students, we were all taught the value of a VFR flight plan. Nothing has changed. Flight following is a great tool for getting advisories on nearby traffic. It is no substitute for a VFR flight plan. Understand what a VFR flight plan is and isn't. Use it the way it was meant to be used, and someday it could save your life.
Robert I. Snow
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