Definition
A flight plan filed for a flight that departs from an airport, operates to one or more other points, and returns to the airport of departure.
Plain English
A flight plan for a trip that starts and ends at the same airport, with one or more stops or turning points along the way.
Context Anchor
Seen when filing a flight plan for a local training flight, practice flight, test flight, or other flight that returns to the departure airport.
Derivation
From the sporting term 'round robin,' meaning a contest in which each participant returns to face the others -- the idea of going around and coming back. Applied to flight planning, it captures a route that loops out and returns to the starting point.
Why Pilots Care
It simplifies flight planning for local operations by requiring only a single plan instead of separate departure and return filings.
Intuition Check
Do not read “round robin” as a group taking turns or a tournament format. In this aviation use, it means the flight starts at one airport and returns to that same airport.
Example Sentence 1
She filed a round robin flight plan from Palo Alto to Half Moon Bay and Watsonville, returning to Palo Alto.
Example Sentence 2
For the short local flight to practice maneuvers, filing a round robin plan allowed the pilot to return without needing an amended destination.