Chris wrote:

here in the UK the way a VFR flight plan works is that the pilot nominates a
responsible person (family member, FBO etc) to make the call if they are
overdue rather than have the ATC make assumptions. The basis is that no news
is good news.

We have something similar in Canada, called a "Flight Itinerary", but
there have been problems with people not understanding how to notify
SAR (or even remembering that they should). In the U.S., the VFR
flight plan is entirely optional, so Americans can do things the U.K.
way if they want; however, it's nice to have a professional system in
place to respond quickly if you go missing. Most U.S. control towers
don't get involved with VFR flight plans -- you deal directly with
flight services.

In Canada, the VFR flight plan *or* flight itinerary (as in the U.K.)
is required for any trip over 25 nautical miles from the starting
point, and control towers do deal with VFR flight plans quite
efficiently.

Both Canada and the U.S. require VFR flight plans for cross-border
flights.


All the best,


David