Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Filing a VFR flight plan from DC SFRA

Asked by: 4579 views ,
Airspace

I'm planning a VFR flight from the DC SFRA.  I filed the DC SFRA as described in the FAA training, which requires IFR and the departure gate to be specified as the destination.  I'd like to have a standard flight plan covering the remainder of my flight, so I tried to file a second VFR flight plan for the entire trip.  DUATS did not accept my flight plan because it said I needed to file an IFR flight plan from the SFRA.  Should I file the second flight plan with the SFRA gate as my departure point?

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.

2 Answers



  1. John D Collins on May 26, 2017

    Dave,

    Yes. Remember to open the second flightplan with FSS.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. bluesideUP on May 30, 2017

    Hi Dave, yes, as John stated, you simply file a second flight plan that originates at your DC SFRA egress gateway and goes onward to your destination. When you reach the limit of the SFRA, Potomac Tracon will usually terminate your radar services and tell you to squawk 1200, at which time you can flip over to FSS and activate your second VFR flight plan that starts at the egress gateway and goes onward to your destination.
    Depending on the work load of the sector, you can also try informing the SFRA controller of your intended destination before you get to the end of it and she can arrange for flight following after you leave the SFRA if desired. There is one very helpful woman in the Chesapeake sector who actually asks if you want flight following, which is very considerate

    Basically the SFRA flight plan is just filed as “IFR” as a kludge to allow ATC get your info into the ATC computer system and issue you a squawk code while in the DC SFRA. Its trying to put a square peg in the round hole of the existing computer system, and it has no ATC function other than its “security” features. So if you are VFR within the DC SFRA , the SFRA flight plan only gets you from your airport to the gateway, with no official requirement for ATC to provide any level of services or (usually) any formal ATC clearance.

    -Jim, CFI, ATP

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

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.