Flight Planning and Following Is Not Just for Cross-Country

It’s vital for pilots to know these risk management skills.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at 11:26 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

IFR flight plans provide important layers of planning and situational awareness to the benefit of everyone in the sky. [Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The article highlights a conflict between modern aviation technology, which some believe makes traditional skills like filing flight plans and using flight following obsolete, and the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) which still mandate proficiency in these areas for private pilots.
Pilots must understand the fundamental elements of VFR flight planning, including the ability to create an analog navlog, and be proficient in filing, activating, and crucially, closing VFR flight plans via phone, radio, or app to avoid search and rescue operations.
Flight following is a workload-permitting ATC service for VFR aircraft, distinct from a VFR flight plan, and pilots must remember that canceling flight following is not the same as closing their flight plan.

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I don’t think the check ride went very well because the CFI was raising a stink that lingered about the DPE’s insistence that the applicant know how to file and activate a flight plan and know the procedure for obtaining flight following.

The CFI argued that these skills are obsolete because of the technology available now, suggesting that navigational apps, such as ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot, combined with ADS-B make the filing of flight plans and using flight following obsolete. He noted you can track someone via an app like FlightAware.com if you know their tail number and know where they are at all times.