Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
By Ibra
#1852198
Will be good to have VFR flight plans but a whole service behind: can be retreived by everybody, closed by everybody, no PPR, no "pass your message", a simple RT call "G-AB with you" and quick airspace acess

I mean you get something out of it, free landing fee if you file VFR FPL :lol: , if it's just another hurdle from bureaucrates or big brothers, no thanks :eye:

In US, while VFR FPL is not mandatory to file on domestic flight, it's highly advisable to have one filed if you plan to try your luck flying in TFRs under ATC watch (naer Palm Beach when the orange man is golfing or watch the SpaceX lunch)
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By Rob L
#1852200
Dave W wrote:Well, yes. I turn up to Tesco much like that - as does everybody else. I don't book a slot in their carpark or onto the A36.

It's not that different; we're not that special*.


*Well, obviously we are, but YKWIM.... ;)


I agree, Dave, but on the way to Tesco I pass another supermarket and decide to pop in on the spur. How does that work with VFR flight plans (addressed to others, not you).

Off-topic: YKWIM was a reference to the intimate part of a female; particularly in the days of the Mahdi in the Sudan....I'm hope you don't mean that?
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By A le Ron
#1852242
Before AFPEX lite was sabotaged this might have been feasible. Now, no one can open, close or operate them. Well done NATS.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1852487
A le Ron wrote:Before AFPEX lite was sabotaged this might have been feasible. Now, no one can open, close or operate them. Well done NATS.


A classic example of the focus on cost not value syndrome.....
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By flybymike
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1852570
rdfb wrote:Lots of resistance to filing flight plans here. I'd like to offer a different perspective.

It's really frustrating to have to deal with multiple systems for what is essentially the same thing. For most flights, I have to:

  • Book out, either through some web form or by calling some number, the details of which depend on where I am. So I have to look it up, get frustrated with a web form that doesn't work from an iPad, etc. And I have to type in most of the same details over and over again (email address, phone number, my name, callsign etc).
  • Get PPR from my destination, either through some web form or by calling some number, the details of which depend on where I am. So I have to look it up, get frustrated with a web form that doesn't work from an iPad, etc. And I have to type in most of the same details over and over again (email address, phone number, my name, callsign etc).
  • Give every controller of some controlled airspace in my way my life story, wait for them to get it all down, by which time I'm on top of them in some cases.
  • Wait for PPR to be accepted (if filed digitally).

If only there were a single unified system for getting my details to everyone who wants to know. Well, there is - it's the flight plan system.

I appreciate it's a pain to learn/use yet another system if you don't do this already (I certainly don't). But it's the right way forward because if everyone did it then pilot admin would be massively reduced.

So I'm in favour of:

  • Booking out being done by a flight plan.
  • Requesting PPR being done by a flight plan.
  • (not sure how to integrate "PPR accepted" into this, but that'd be a minor issue if everyone did everything else)
  • Controllers of controlled airspace en-route paying attention to flight plans and being ready with a strip, or whatever, so I didn't need to give each of them my life story.

Because then there's only one thing I'd need to do, instead of four.

We can only get there one step at a time. I welcome any one step, because it's heading in the right direction.


All well and good if you are making a specific flight with a known preplanned intended route and destination.
Hardly apt for an aimless bimble.
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By rdfb
#1852572
flybymike wrote:All well and good if you are making a specific flight with a known preplanned intended route and destination.
Hardly apt for an aimless bimble.


Ideally you'd not need to file a flight plan at all in that case. I'm just saying that if you have to submit your details to anyone at any stage anyway, it'd be better for everyone if this was done through the flight plan system, because that's the single consistent system that already exists. Then you'd only need to do the admin once and with a single system that doesn't change regardless of where you are or where you're going. There's also the advantage that it can be a single button in SkyDemon, etc - thus basically eliminating all the admin for everyone.

I'm not familiar with filing flight plans myself, but in the case of an "aimless bimble" local flight, couldn't you just file the route as "VFR"? To be clear, ideally you wouldn't even need to do that, but if your airport demands admin, it'd be nice if they accepted the admin in the form of such a flight plan, because then it'd still be to be the same system as everywhere else. There'd be nothing to stop them requiring nothing at all, or also providing another method.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1852573
rdfb wrote:If only there were a single unified system for getting my details to everyone who wants to know. Well, there is - it's the flight plan system.


Except in the UK, a VFR flight plan doesnt get seen by hardly anyone, doesnt automaticly get you access to airspace, or actually do any of the things you want.... And most importantly, if you do file one and disappear, no-one will come to look for you... so...

Where I fly, I pitch up to the aerodrome, get the aeroplane out, and go flying - I dont tell anyone anything, I just get on with it. Flightplans are for crossing borders, long stretches of water, inhospitable terrain or night flying - and if you file one and dont close it, they WILL come looking for you...
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By Aerials
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1852604
Having never filed a Flight Plan, VFR or otherwise I have a very sketchy knowledge of the system. The thought occurred to me that perhaps it might be most helpful for Pre-Note(ing) those places that request you do so.
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By Rob P
#1852605
Well I have never come across the requirement for a VFR flight plan for an internal UK flight in thirty years, so I am guessing the list is Cardiff, Cardiff and Cardiff?

Rob P
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