How to file a flight plan

If you know of other reference documents for other equipment send them to us and we'll link to them as well. Bruce Williams does a good job explaining this section on his website at bruceair. Put any other "Field Other Information" codes here. If you regularly carry a survival kit, indicated its capability by checking the region for which it was intended to function. If you only occasionally carry survival equipment, leave this blank. You can specify on the flight plan as necessary.

Jump to navigation. Login Register. Introduction This guide will familiarize you with the basic mechanics of the new Flight Planning and Filing system on SkyVector. It is by no means a complete user guide, but should help you get get started. As always, feel free to email info skyvector. Sign in to wxbrief. Yay, you have completed your flight plan! Skip to content.

To select a SID: Tap on the world symbol at the bottom left corner of the status bar. Tap on your departure airport. When picking a SID, you want to make sure that it matches your direction of flight, along with your departure runway. Then select your transition. Once the transition has been selected, you will now have to inform the system of the runway you will be using. You will want to pick the STAR that best lines up with your direction of travel upon arrival To file this: Tap on the world symbol at the bottom left corner of the status bar.

Tap on your arrival airport. VFR pilots who have an aversion to paperwork may find it may be tempting to think that filing a flight plan is a task reserved for IFR pilots only, but is that position wise?

A flight plan is a standardized form that pilots fill out and submit to the FAA prior to departure. It is the written culmination of a thorough flight planning process. Filing a flight plan shares important information on your intentions for the flight including your destination, your route, the amount of time you expect the flight to take, fuel on board, number of passengers, planned cruising altitude, and more. An IFR flight plan is a flight plan filled out, submitted, and opened by pilots who are flying under instrument flight rules.

Flight plans are required for all IFR flights. A VFR flight plan is a flight plan filled out, submitted, and opened by pilots who are flying under visual flight rules. A composite flight plan is a type of flight plan used when a pilot will be operating under visual flight rules for a portion of the flight and instrument flight rules for another portion of the flight. An international flight plan is a type of flight plan required when aircraft will be traveling outside domestic United States airspace.

Even on cross country flights, VFR pilots are still not typically required to file a flight plan. That said, it is highly recommended. Think of a VFR flight plan as a tool designed to help FAA Search and Rescue SAR crews know where to search for your aircraft if you were to crash or to make an emergency landing and have no communications capabilities. Since a flight plan indicates the amount of time a pilot expects the flight to take, if a VFR pilot files and opens a flight plan, then does not arrive at their destination within 30 minutes of the expected arrival time, the FAA will have an indication that something may be wrong.

They will attempt to contact you via phone and will check the ramp at your intended destination for your plane. If you are unable to be contacted or located, the FAA will pull up your flight plan and provide it to SAR crews like the Air Force Civil Air Patrol who will know where to start searching for you since you indicated your route on the flight plan.

Need a little extra incentive to fill out the paperwork? These rescued pilots were also located an average of four hours sooner than missing pilots who had not filed a flight plan. In frigid winter weather or other adverse conditions, that four hours could be critical and well worth the time invested to file a flight plan.

For this reason, it is recommended that pilots simply learn and begin using the ICAO format right away regardless of whether it is required or not. The flight plan form is simply a formal, written summary generated at the end of your actual flight planning process. Before you can fill out the form, you must plan your flight.

When you file your flight plan, that indicates to the FAA that you have, among other things:. Prior to filling out your flight plan form, you will need to locate some background information that will be required.

The first few times you fill out a flight plan form, you will likely have some questions, particularly on the ICAO version. Note that you will start filling out the form with item 7 as the air traffic facility completes the top portion.

Also, everything below item 18 is optional. Flight plans can be filed in several ways: by phone, online, or through a digital app. The process for each type of flight plan filing is described below.

To file by phone, have your completed printed flight plan ready. After the tone, indicate which state you are departing out of. The briefer will do a read back to confirm accuracy, then will verify that your flight plan is on file. At this point you may either hang up or stay on the line to receive a weather briefing.