Flew a doggie flight from Kennett, MO up to Bloomington, IL on Saturday (and met @arkvet cuz he helped with the first leg). Sometimes I file VFR flight plans, sometimes I don't. If it's a long flight I always create a flight plan online with 1800wxbrief and use it for my briefing. But I don't always activate.
For the case on Saturday, I had it filed but didn't activate. Took off from Kennett and called up Memphis Center. They passed me to a different Center sector right away without a squawk code. Call up the new Center controller and there became some confusion assigning me a squawk code. He said I had a flight plan already open.
1. I thought VFR flight plans were just informational and didn't affect flight following or squawk codes.
2. I didn't open the flight plan, so how in the world was it causing confusion in the background for ATC?
Eventually the controller got it all sorted out but it was a good 7 to 10 minutes before I was squawked and radar identified. Weird.
For the case on Saturday, I had it filed but didn't activate. Took off from Kennett and called up Memphis Center. They passed me to a different Center sector right away without a squawk code. Call up the new Center controller and there became some confusion assigning me a squawk code. He said I had a flight plan already open.
1. I thought VFR flight plans were just informational and didn't affect flight following or squawk codes.
2. I didn't open the flight plan, so how in the world was it causing confusion in the background for ATC?
Eventually the controller got it all sorted out but it was a good 7 to 10 minutes before I was squawked and radar identified. Weird.