Judah writes:

Probably wherever you last showed up on their radar, especially if you have a
transponder, were receiving flight following, and/or called for help on the
emergency frequency.

Yup. But that could be a long way from where you actually went down.

From a safety standpoint, the more visible you are to others,
including ATC, the better off you are if something goes wrong.

That's interesting. Do you use VATSim?

I'm considering VATSIM, yes. Currently I just use the in-game
features, which are not fancy or ideal, but enough to introduce me to
the concepts.

For example, yesterday I "filed" a VFR flight plan from Montgomery
Field (San Diego) to Palm Springs. I didn't like the default routing,
which took me over high mountains that would require a climb to over
11,000', so I added new waypoints that would take me through the
valley that leads to the city, not much higher than 8000'. I went
through some Class B along the way but I didn't bother to worry about
that on this flight (actually, the sim never proposed a Class B
transition to me, so I might never have actually entered Class B--the
sim doesn't provide clear information on the minima for the outer
parts of the airspace, although it marks their boundaries).

What is the purpose of a flight plan in a simulation?

What is the purpose of anything in a simulation? To emulate real
life, of course.

They will certainly know where to look if you crash.

If I crash, the game is over.

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