Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

7 Answers

Activating Flight Plan

Asked by: 18484 views Private Pilot

Departing from a towered field under Class B airspace.  Filed a flight plan for a cross-country.  Also requested flight following on initial contact with Ground Control.  Received squawk code for flight following but Ground nor Tower would call to activiate flight plan.

Soon after lift off Tower approved frequency change to contact Departure.

Question:  When and how is the best time and way to contact FSS to initiate flight plan?

 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

7 Answers



  1. Brent on Dec 09, 2010

    If you’re using flight following, and you have only one radio, you can request to temporarily change frequencies to listen to ATIS, talk to FSS, etc. If you have two, then I suggest you tune the second radio, change to transmit on it, and continue monitoring your assigned ATC frequency.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Koehn on Dec 09, 2010

    The easiest way is to have the tower at your departing airport activate for you. When you readback your takeoff clearance, ask them to activate your flight plan.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Randy Walton on Dec 09, 2010

    Is that true, that the tower will open the flight plan for you?  I’ve never done that and never heard that you could do that.  In fact, I’ve never heard a pilot ever open a flight plan that way.  Would love some confirmation on that suggestion.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. Koehn on Dec 09, 2010

    AIM 5-1-4(f): On pilot’s request, at a location having an active tower, the aircraft identification will be forwarded by the tower to the FSS for reporting the actual departure time. This procedure should be avoided at busy airports.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  5. Kent Shook on Dec 09, 2010

    My favorite technique in this situation is to use an on-field VOR, RCO, or GCO if one of them is available, to contact flight service and open the flight plan just before calling Tower for takeoff clearance.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  6. Brian on Dec 12, 2010

    I call them up with my cell phone before I get in the airplane. I then request my flight plan be open 15 minutes from the time of the call. Since it usually takes, at most, 10 minutes to be wheels up; this gives a 5 minute fudge factor. No need to load myself down once I get in the plane if I don’t have to. 

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  7. Brian on Dec 12, 2010

    Forgot to add: in the case that my time is way off all I need to do is call them up when airborne and amend it. I’ve had to do this maybe two or three times in the last 5+ years.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.