| Extended Flights / Rose Marie Kern |
Pilots planning to fly for an extended period of time frequently need to choose whether to file several flight plans or one long one. Which is better? The answer depends on the situation and, to some extent the reason flight plans are filed to begin with.
Extended Flights
The Pros and Cons of Filing Multiple VFR Legs
VFR flight plans are optional, with a few exceptions, such as when you fly across the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on the U.S. border or through a VIP Temporary Flight Restriction. The VFR flight plan was created to help pilots in an emergency because it gives Flight Service and the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) the information needed to find an aircraft if it does not arrive at its destination at the projected time.
Filing a VFR round robin or any extended flight plan, requires a decision as to how long you want to wait before help is sent if, for some reason, there is an emergency causing an unexpected landing. For extended flights of several hours, pilots will usually land for fuel, but often include the fuel stop in the estimated time en route.
If you file a flight for five hours—including the 30 minute fuel stop—search and rescue (SAR) will not begin until 30 minutes past your estimate time of arrival at the final destination. If the aircraft has a problem within the first hour of the flight causing an unexpected landing or an accident, a physical search will not begin for another four and a half hours. The first two hours of SAR do not include a physical search. This time period is used in calling the destination airport, every airport for 50 miles either side of the flight planned route and all air traffic facilities to see if anyone has had contact with the missing aircraft..
Now assuming that you landed alive but injured in a snow covered wilderness only an hour after departure, the military and the civil air patrol will not be launched for over six and a half hours. Statistics show that the sooner help arrives the greater the chance of survival, especially during weather extremes.
If you really do not like filing multiple legs, then be sure to contact some branch of air traffic along the route several times. If you can get flight following with Center during a portion of the flight then they will have a computer track that we can use in SAR. If you call radio or flight watch for a weather update or a pilot report, there will be a record of your position. This narrows the search corridor considerably.
There is reluctance on the part of some pilots to file multiple legs, primarily because they are concerned that they will forget to activate or close each one. They are embarrassed if they go home to a panicked mate because flight service called to ask if they have heard from you, or if the FBO manager has to remind you to call. If this is the case, you may try a mnemonic device to trigger your memory. A popular option is to set a cell phone or other alarm device to the flight plan's ETA. When it goes off it will remind you to call Flight Service.
Also, this is the one area where Flight Service loves cell phone numbers. When you are filing your flight plan, list your cell phone along with your other contact information and that will be one of the first things we try to call to determine if you have arrived safely.
Most of the time flight service closes flight plans after calling the destination airport and discovering that the aircraft is on the field. Frequently the pilot never even realizes that he forgot to call us. This is easy when a tower or FBO is open, a little more difficult at a remote airport at night because the local police have to be dispatched to drive out and inspect the ramp. What is difficult for us is when an aircraft lands at a remote field when no one else is around and gets hangered – then we cannot find it as easily.
The preference, from the point of view of those who are responsible for Search and Rescue is for pilots to file multiple shorter flight plans rather than a one long one. Should an accident occur, this will not only begin the search faster but also limit the amount of terrain needing to be covered. SAR is generally for 50 miles either side of your filed route of flight.
The number one priority of flight service is safety and service to the pilot. Help us help you by filing multiple legs of your journey to ensure that SAR can more rapidly target your likely location in the event of an emergency.
Rose Marie Kern is a flight service specialist. You can ask Rose a question by contacting her at author@rosemariekern.com.
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