You do NOT have to close a FPL in the UK?
So what if a plane on a FPL is missing? Nobody cares?
Explained in detail here, Alexis.
Danke, bosco.
I thought (i was taught) that you should be able to close a FP with any AFIS agent? is that not the rules under SERA? Was also taught an IFR cancelation means the FP is automatically converted into a VFR FP which then needs to be closed on the ground. Landing at LFHN – I close with GVA usually (they put me back onto approach – as tower wont do it since they don’t have time they say :-) If you forget you do get a call from a rather panicked AFIS agent…
From a practical point of view how was the return to Stapleford filed – if it was OCAS why did he want / need the FP closed? If it was filed CAS similarly why didnt he simply request remaining outside CAS – London would have been delighted to have one less to deal with.
As I say, just approaching it from a practical point of view and without getting involved in whether ATC at Lydd needed to interact in any way.
I dont know, but I am guessing the controller’s point of view was, in the absence of a landing, it was up to the pilot to take appropriate action and not a matter for him, as reasonable as the request might seem.
Whether the pilot was a “student” or not I think is irrelevant.
derek wrote:
(2) Is the Lydd controller technically correct?
In my own experience, yes. I have been in the exact same situation in Sweden, but for different reasons.
Unless the wheels touch the runway the aircraft hasn’t landed and the flight plan can’t be closed. The way to salvage the situation would have been to tell Lydd ATC that you would divert to Stapleford and give an ETA. In my case ATC suggested that to me.
For the clarity of the many people reading this thread but not commenting, please note that while in the UK you don’t have to close flight plans, everywhere else it’s extremely important that if you open a flight plan then you must close it on landing.
Only in the UK is it acceptable to not bother closing a flight plan.
dublinpilot wrote:
Only in the UK is it acceptable to not bother closing a flight plan.
@dublinpilot, you beat me to it. This another (IMHO crazy) UK specialty. Anywhere else (at least where I have flown) you absolutely have to close your FPL, otherwise SAR is initiated. You can, however, do this from the air, especially if you know that comms will not be available once landed. Usually saying something like ‘with the airport in sight and landing assured, pls close FPL for X-XYZ’.
That’s all true but I still think the Lydd ATCO was right in saying he can’t close the FP unless you land.
There is a “fair bit of history” in GA in getting this done with just a touch and go …. 
the purpose being to clear Customs or Immigration without wasting time on a full landing. I know pilots who have been able to do this after establishing a good relationship with somebody in a certain tower. The scheduled service from Shoreham to Pontoise used to do a T+G at Le Touquet (after French Customs shafted the operator by promising to reinstate C at Pontoise and then failing to do it) and that had to be fairly official because you can’t exactly hide it!
As to the reason for the UK system of by default not needing to close a FP, that’s probably because the S&R services would otherwise be inundated with bogus alarms. What actually happens initially in say France (I know, because I failed to close an FP twice ) is not S&R but a phone call is made to the filed destination to ask if the plane is sitting there… Only if it isn’t will they dig deeper. Otherwise, a lot of people would get a ~€1000 bill.
