Definition
Specified information relating to the intended flight of an aircraft, filed orally or in writing with a Flight Service Station (FSS) or Air Traffic Control (ATC) facility. A flight plan typically includes aircraft identification, type and equipment, departure point, route, destination, altitude, true airspeed, estimated time en route, fuel on board, and number of persons aboard.
Plain English
A document the pilot files before a flight that tells aviation authorities who is flying, what aircraft, where they are going, by what route, and how long it should take. It lets the system know to expect the flight and, if necessary, look for the aircraft if it does not arrive.
Context Anchor
You will encounter flight plans when working with Flight Service, planning a route, requesting services before departure, or making sure a flight can be followed if it does not arrive as expected.
Why Pilots Care
Filing activates search-and-rescue services if the aircraft becomes overdue and is required for all IFR operations.
Intuition Check
Do not read flight plans as casual plans kept only in the pilot’s head. In this context, flight plans are formal filed records used by aviation services.
Example Sentence 1
Before departing on the cross-country, the pilot called Flight Service and filed a VFR flight plan with an estimated time en route of two hours.
Example Sentence 2
After landing, the pilot closed the flight plan with the FSS to avoid an unnecessary search-and-rescue alert.