Definition
A single flight plan that covers a flight intended to make one or more intermediate stops at airports along the route, with each leg filed and activated in sequence rather than as separate, individually filed flight plans.
Plain English
One flight plan that covers a trip with planned stops along the way, instead of filing a brand-new flight plan for every leg.
Context Anchor
Seen when filing a flight plan for a cross-country trip that includes planned stops before the final destination.
Derivation
‘Stopover’ comes from everyday travel language — a stop made partway through a journey before continuing on. Applied to aviation, it describes a flight plan that already builds those stops into a single filing.
Why Pilots Care
Keeps search and rescue coverage active through each stop and avoids the need to refile or reactivate the plan after each landing.
Intuition Check
Do not read “stopover” as an unplanned delay or emergency stop. Here it means a planned stop along the route before the final destination.
Example Sentence 1
Because she was flying from Denver to Albuquerque with a planned fuel stop in Pueblo, she filed a stopover flight plan covering both legs.
Example Sentence 2
After landing at the listed stopover airport, the pilot departed again without needing to activate a new flight plan.