VFR into controlled field.. Who closes flight plan?

BellyUpFish

BellyUpFish

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Ok.. I've got a friend I'm teaching to fly and he's about to do his solo XC and had a question about who will cancel his VFR flight plan (and/or flight following) when landing at a controlled field.

We've been discussing it and I've told him, I think if he flies into a towered airport with a VFR flight plan on file, the tower will automatically close his flight plan for him once he lands, just like an IFR plan. They would do the same, if he was on flight following, but I'm not 100% certain. I've used the "VFR system" very little.

Obviously, he can cancel both of these on his own at his leisure, but for this example; if he's continuing to a controlled field under a VFR flight plan or participating in flight following will the tower automatically close the flight plan when he lands?

He has been reading a little conflicting info via the internet and I told him "Let's ask POA!"

So.. Here we are.. LOL..

What says POA?
 
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TommyG said:
Even controlled field, he is responsible to close it on his own. Tower doesn't close a VFR flight plan.
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Well, learn something new every day.

So, will they close it if requested or does he need to call flight service? LOL
 
If he sets up his profile correctly on the LockMart sight, he can do it via text message.
 
BellyUpFish said:
So, will they close it if requested or does he need to call flight service? LOL
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Pretty sure he has to call flight service, unless the tower folks are incredibly bored and incredibly nice.

They will "close" the flight following though. Flight following is kind of like a mini IFR flight plan, in that ATC organizes it. As I understand it, VFR flight plans by default never make it to the ATC world. They live entirely in the realm of Flight Service.
 
BellyUpFish said:
Ok.. I've got a friend I'm teaching to fly and he's about to do his solo XC and had a question about who will cancel his VFR flight plan (and/or flight following) when landing at a controlled field.

We've been discussing it and I've told him, if he flies into a towered airport with a VFR flight plan on file, the tower will automatically close his flight plan for him once he lands, just like an IFR plan. They would do the same, if he was on flight following. Obviously, he can cancel both of these on his own at his leisure, but for this example he's continuing to the field under a VFR flight plan or participating in flight following.

He has been reading a little conflicting info via the internet and I told him "Let's ask POA!"

So.. Here we are.. LOL..

What says POA?
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the pilot bears the responsibility for closing his VFR flight plan. I sometimes cancel with flght svc when I have the airport in soght but usually wait till I'm on the ground and then call FS.
 
Sounds like all the more reason for me to help him with his instrument ticket as soon as his PPL is earned.

I've operated VFR, using the system, very limitedly in my career. I can only remember 1 distinct time I filed a VFR flight plan.
 
Personally, I don't see much use for a VFR flight plan at all. It's main use is to alert search and rescue in the event you don't show up on time. If you don't utilize flight following that's a good thing, however if you do use FF they are watching you much more closely and will be searching for you a lot sooner than 30min after planned eta. I've filed VFR flight plans a couple times, but quickly found them to be more hassle than they are worth since I use FF on nearly every flight.

The question asked was already answered, this is just my opinion on the topic. Flight Following is a great tool that's easy to use and has many benefits. VFR flight plans are not as easy or as useful IMO.
 
StinkBug said:
Personally, I don't see much use for a VFR flight plan at all. It's main use is to alert search and rescue in the event you don't show up on time. If you don't utilize flight following that's a good thing, however if you do use FF they are watching you much more closely and will be searching for you a lot sooner than 30min after planned eta. I've filed VFR flight plans a couple times, but quickly found them to be more hassle than they are worth since I use FF on nearly every flight.

The question asked was already answered, this is just my opinion on the topic. Flight Following is a great tool that's easy to use and has many benefits. VFR flight plans are not as easy or as useful IMO.
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I agree with you. I honestly can't remember more than 1 time I've filed a VFR flight plan in almost 20 years of flying..

I love flight following. It's that or an IFR flight plan for me..
 
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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The second place they call after they call you is the tower at the controlled airport you provided as destination.

As noted by AggieMike, you can now open and close VFR flight plans via text message. No need to deal with their auto-attendant or wait in the loop for an operator to come on the line.
 
Pilot is responsible. I don't have any of my guys file flight plans on their solo cross countries. I teach them how to do it and how to pick it up though. I just have them flight following.
 
BellyUpFish said:
Ok.. I've got a friend I'm teaching to fly and he's about to do his solo XC and had a question about who will cancel his VFR flight plan (and/or flight following) when landing at a controlled field.

We've been discussing it and I've told him, if he flies into a towered airport with a VFR flight plan on file, the tower will automatically close his flight plan for him once he lands, just like an IFR plan. They would do the same, if he was on flight following. Obviously, he can cancel both of these on his own at his leisure, but for this example he's continuing to the field under a VFR flight plan or participating in flight following.
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Landing at a towered field in the US does not automatically close a VFR flight plan. IFR flight plans are closed automatically because tower personnel observed you land at your clearance limit. VFR flight plans are managed by FSS, they can't know that you've arrived without being told and the tower doesn't know what VFR aircraft have filed flight plans.

Flight following is terminated when the radar controller advises "radar service terminated" or upon landing at a towered field with radar service.
 
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BellyUpFish said:
Well, learn something new every day.

So, will they close it if requested or does he need to call flight service? LOL
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The pilot could make that request of the tower but that's what they'd have to do, call FSS, and FSS does not answer phone calls from towers any faster than from pilots.
 
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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Correct, and if the destination is a towered field the first call goes to the control tower.
 
BellyUpFish said:
Ok.. I've got a friend I'm teaching to fly and he's about to do his solo XC and had a question about who will cancel his VFR flight plan (and/or flight following) when landing at a controlled field.

We've been discussing it and I've told him, if he flies into a towered airport with a VFR flight plan on file, the tower will automatically close his flight plan for him once he lands, just like an IFR plan. They would do the same, if he was on flight following. Obviously, he can cancel both of these on his own at his leisure, but for this example he's continuing to the field under a VFR flight plan or participating in flight following.

He has been reading a little conflicting info via the internet and I told him "Let's ask POA!"

So.. Here we are.. LOL..

What says POA?
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Are you a CFI ??
 
StinkBug said:
Personally, I don't see much use for a VFR flight plan at all. It's main use is to alert search and rescue in the event you don't show up on time. If you don't utilize flight following that's a good thing, however if you do use FF they are watching you much more closely and will be searching for you a lot sooner than 30min after planned eta. I've filed VFR flight plans a couple times, but quickly found them to be more hassle than they are worth since I use FF on nearly every flight.
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Maybe. The radar controller must initiate a search in the event of an unexpected loss of radar contact and radio communications. If a few calls go unanswered but the controller still has radar contact he might just decide the pilot no longer wanted radar services.
 
I've filed VFR flight plans 3 times. Once with instructor listening on the phone, once by myself for the solo XC, and once with the examiner sitting in the room.

Never since PPL for the same reasons StinkBug covered.
 
Kritchlow said:
I'm a bit shocked a CFI wouldn't know this very basic question.... Let alone a Gold Seal.
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98% of all the instruction I've done was outside of the VFR world..

Don't do a lot of VFR chat with instrument and ATP guys...

If it makes you feel better, I haven't been an active CFI in over a decade..
 
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You guys who don't file VFR flight plans obviously don't fly international a lot. If you did, you'd be filing a VFR flight plan whenever you cross the border under VFR.
I fly into Canada quite a bit, and file VFR whenever the weather is decent and expected IFR clearance or routing too burdensome. In that case, going into Canada, the tower always automatically cancels the VFR flight plan. Entering the States, the tower does it too without much ado, but it might be as a courtesy, as they've never complained.
Also, I never fly VFR cross country without flight following, as I consider it an essential safety tool.
 
RotorDude said:
Also, I never fly VFR cross country without flight following, as I consider it an essential safety tool.
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I've done my fair share of international flying, never once crossed a border VFR, much like XC, I'll be IFR or flight following.
 
BellyUpFish said:
I've done my fair share of international flying, never once crossed a border VFR, much like XC, I'll be IFR or flight following.
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Flight following without a flight plan (VFR or IFR) is illegal for border crossing, as far as I know.
 
Heard a plane coming into the airport last night ask the tower if they could close their flight plan. Tower was slow so they said yeah they'd give Flight Services a call. Because you know..it's SO hard to call them up on the ground and do it yourself..

Personally, that's just lazy piloting in my opinion. If you are on an IFR flight plan it's a given at a towered field, but a VFR flight plan? C'mon..don't be "that guy". Do your own work.

I've heard people try to get tower to OPEN their VFR flight plan for them too. And, sometimes they do if they are slow, but it's not a given.
 
Wow :eek:. A CFI should know and teach this. As mentioned a tower will call FSS for you at your request but they can also decline to. The pilot is responsible.
 
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BellyUpFish said:
98% of all the instruction I've done was outside of the VFR world..

Don't do a lot of VFR chat with instrument and ATP guys...

If it makes you feel better, I haven't been an active CFI in over a decade..
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Okay.... Not an active instructor. Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you said you were teaching this person. I probably read it wrong.
 
Heck, I haven't been an active instructor in 20+ years, and haven't flown VFR in ??? Almost 20 years???
But that one is a softball. Just sayin'
 
Kritchlow said:
Heck, I haven't been an active instructor in 20+ years, and haven't flown VFR in ??? Almost 20 years???
But that one is a softball. Just sayin'
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I'm not going to deny I should have known, sure I should have and I'll take the beating for it, I'm a big boy, I can take it. This place is full of guys chomping at the bit to show someone else they're stupid.

It's just kind of sad that this is what most conversations on this message board turn into. A contest of who knows the most, which is why my friend/student doesn't post here. He reads plenty, but doesn't post. He's not here for the flop contest, he's here trying to learn.

We were discussing the subject tonight and I told him I wasn't 100% sure how the tower would handle a VFR flight plan arrival, I assumed they would handle it as they do IFR, 99.9% of my flying has been either IFR or VFR with flight following, as previously stated, I can only remember 1 VFR flight plan I've ever filed, I haven't operated in the VFR world.

Oh well, let me have it. LOL
 
mscard88 said:
Well you did ask in your OP right? :rolleyes:
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Yeh I asked.

I don't mind asking questions I don't know the answer to. I'd rather ask at the risk of looking stupid than not know and screw up.

Shame on me...
 
BellyUpFish said:
I assumed they would handle it ...
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I've learned to never assume anything in flying...and believe me I've learned it through doing stupid things:

Oh look a field, AF/D shows they have fuel, they must have fuel right? No..full service only.
Hey, an airport, it's late at night, I can land at it right? No, no night operations...

And..the list goes on and on. Before you try something you haven't ever tried, it's probably a good idea to do some research ahead of time. Next time, try google "opening+and+closing+a+vfr+flight+plan", first hit back is an AOPA article with the answer you need :)
 
RotorDude said:
You guys who don't file VFR flight plans obviously don't fly international a lot. If you did, you'd be filing a VFR flight plan whenever you cross the border under VFR.
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That's not so obvious. A guy can do a lot of international flying without filing a VFR flight plan by going IFR.
 
As an aside, you can activate and cancel VFR flight plans directly through ForeFlight.
 
BellyUpFish said:
98% of all the instruction I've done was outside of the VFR world..

Don't do a lot of VFR chat with instrument and ATP guys...

If it makes you feel better, I haven't been an active CFI in over a decade..
Click to expand...

You said you're teaching a friend to fly. That seems active to me.
 
Caramon13 said:
Next time, try google "opening+and+closing+a+vfr+flight+plan", first hit back is an AOPA article with the answer you need :)
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There you go assuming after such a nice lecture about not assuming.

Pretty sure Google and the very article your suggesting is the very article that lead my friend to ask me to post here. Conflicting information (it was right there in the OP.)

I think, in that article, there is a statement that says something similar to "unlike an IFR flight plan, you'll still need to close it." Speaking to the VFR flight plan.

So, rather than ASSUME, I posted here, with the question.

If everyone Googled everything and never came to message boards, what would happen to the message boards? ;)
 
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@BellyUpFish

Dunno man, this is pretty clear to me:

How do I open and close my VFR flight plans?

To open a flight plan you will need to contact the closest FAA Flight Service Station (FSS). You will find the radio frequency above a VOR frequency box on a sectional chart. To close a flight plan, you can contact FSS by radio or call them on the telephone. The standard phone number is 800/992-7433 (800/WX-BRIEF).

What exactly is unclear about either of those instructions? What says tower will close it for you?
 
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