Peter wrote:
I doubt they will “trigger S&R”. This is not UK procedure. They might make some phone calls e.g. to your number. Scilly Isles does that.
This is specific to Glocester (and one ATC there), he will trigger SAR if you don’t cancel PPR !!
There has been cases like this with AG/AFIS but mostly trying to contact the pilot
For other places in UK, yes if you don’t turn up no one cares (even on ‘Golf IFR flight plans’), legally the pilot, should nominate their partner (or themselves or someone else) to check that they arrived…
Since everywhere in the UK requires PPR I tend to PPR at places ahead of time even if there’s only a slim chance of going. A couple of times I have PPRed at two places a couple of days beforehand and cancelled the one I didn’t want to go to on the day.
The only place I haven’t been able to visit due to PPR was Old Warden as their slots filled very quickly on the day.
And maybe Cosford because they seem to be completely and utterly clueless.
Because everywhere in UK requires PPR I rarely do trips planned on the same day. The few exceptions are places with online automatic PPR, like Llanbedr for example.
With regards to SAR alerting, I PPRed at Cranfield and didn’t show up due to Wx. I got a call an hour after my ETA and the guy was quite annoyed at me for not calling to cancel, and he said they would alert SAR if he couldn’t get hold of me.
Something just passed my mind when reading this threat.
PNR / PPR imposes to notify.. not to actually go.
What would the adverse reaction be if you notify/request when you intend to go?
I’ve dont that a gizillion times. Nothing happens. Particularly so for international flights where a flight plan is required, if you don’t activate the flight plan, they know you haven’t departed so won’t bother turning up.
Edited to add:
If you being stupid like PPRing for everyday next week, then using the first one and not bother to cancel the others, that might be different!
dublinpilot wrote:
if you don’t activate the flight plan, they know you haven’t departed so won’t bother turning up.
German AIS/ARO will start searching for you if you file VFR FPL and you don’t depart or activate or cancel…
Ibra wrote:
German AIS/ARO will start searching for you if you file VFR FPL and you don’t depart or activate or cancel…
Why? If there is no departure message, then you haven’t gone missing. Before the days when EasyVFR could file a free flight plan at a moments notice, I regularly had flight plans filed that were never activated. I’d file one (by fax or phone) from home and then turn up to the airport to find a tech problem. Or file it the night before only to wake up to find the weather wasn’t suitable.
Someone once told me that I should cancel the plan if I wasn’t going. So I called AIS (in Ireland) to ask if it was necessary.
Their answer was that it was not necessary to cancel it, but it would be useful if I did. Their explanation was that it’s always possible that an unused flight plan gets activated by accident when someone mistakes the call sign and then it never gets closed and causes overdue action.
But starting over due action for a filed but not activated flight plan is a stupid thing to do. I’d be really surprised if the Germans routinely did this. In any case, their first call of action in an over due situation is to call the departure field to make sure that the aircraft actually departed and didn’t return. So it wouldn’t be a very long search!
This is getting well off topic, except for the specific angle of what happens if you file PNR/PPR and don’t turn up.
I would not worry about this because it is easy to just email them to say you aren’t coming. That’s what I do. That’s easy because the trip has been cancelled, so there is plenty of time.
But starting over due action for a filed but not activated flight plan is a stupid thing to do. I’d be really surprised if the Germans routinely did this.
Of course they don’t. A FP without a DEP message (within a certain time, say 1hr) is just dumped. Once a DEP has been issued, different things happen. But that is not relevant here because you are now airborne and on your way to the destination, so this is off topic 
Of course they don’t.
And yet they do.
The French too.
What, file a FP and without a DEP message (so obviously you never got airborne) you get the full S&R process?
There is a bit of detail missing which is a pity because it will confuse the hell out of somebody. The problem with one-liners
dublinpilot wrote:
If there is no departure message, then you haven’t gone missing
That depends. You can in the flight plan say that EOBT is considered as ATD. For instance taking off without radio and/or phone cover. In those cases I instead activate the plan in the air when high enough. The opposite is more difficult and more prone to unwanted S&R. I usually close it in the air. Radio cover to ATC on the ground is zero, so the only way to close it is by phone. Phone coverage is usually not the problem (but could be). Rather it’s forgetting to call by phone once landed, which is insanely easy to forget.
