Would it be possible to popup a reminder to close a flightplan? Could be triggered when plane is on ground and standing still or when closing Navigation. Normaly I fly without flightplan but when crossing borders I file a flightplan. If I land on an uncontrolled airfield I could forget to close the flightplan(just did). They send the police to check if the plane had landed an next day I got a lot of angry people in my face.

Martin's suggestion is a perfectly valid one, and, in my opinion, shifu's reply is a bit "rough around the edges". A pop up reminder to close a flightplan after landing is, to me, something I don't feel very strongly about either way. But if it were included, I certainly wouldn't complain.

-- Chris.

A friend of mine puts an elastic band around his wrist prior to commencement of a flight and removing it at the end of the flight reminds him to close his flight plan. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it seems to work for him.

Mike
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Just to add to the possible confusion - there is no requirement (or process) to close FPLs when landing in UK.
So, when I fly to France (and probably other European countries), I have to remember to close them myself where no ATC service is provided (like Abbeville).
I don't fly across international borders very often but FPL closure is something I have to positively remind myself about.
I don't think SD is the right platform to provide these reminders. Perhaps your aircraft's post-flight checklist?
Tony Nowak

If SkyDemon knew you were flying on a flightplan, I would have no problem popping up an alert at the end saying don't forget to close it (unless you had landed in the UK, as mentioned). However we do not positively know this. I don't think there is enough of a demand for this to add an option for the pilot to tell us they're flying on a flightplan, just so that we can remind them to close it afterwards. After all, they're just as likely to forget to tell us!

The rubber band method propose above is brilliant, I think.

The notion of removing flightplan filing functionality from SkyDemon is ridiculous. Hundreds of flightplans are filed every day through SkyDemon.

Tim, if Skydemon is filing hundreds of flightplans every day then Skydemon must know that it is flying on a flightplan - right? I always use Skydemon to file flightplans so with the option of a reminder to close a flightplan there is no need to buy a rubber band :-). Even if one is not flying on a flightplan you could have the option to have a reminder - just like the reminder from Skydemon when making a crossborder flight and the reminder to certan countries to send a GAR.

Since a flightplan is a must when flying crossboarder the Skydemon reminder is super. What will happend if you do forget to file a flightplan when flying crossboarder - returning to home airfield, land at nearest, denied access to country, ......, ?

Worse things happen if you forget to close a flightplan, so please a reminder option. I have 4 other pilots saying the same, and they love Skydemon.

It is just a reminder - Skydemon is not to close the flightplan.

I wasn't lying before. SkyDemon really doesn't know you're flying on a flightplan. The fact you have previously filed a VFR flightplan for a route (on that device, or any other) is not known by any particular device logged in to the same SkyDemon account.

Our planning warnings and suggestions are very different to the new class of alert you are proposing. I just don't see how and where it would fit in. You may know some other people who think it's a good idea, but unfortunately nobody else has ever suggested this. If they do, we can start thinking about the best means to make such a thing accessible.

One possibility would be to use the device's internal alarm system either by entering an alarm via the clock app, or maybe it's possible to set an alarm from within Skydemon.

In logs there is a Log Stop time - the reminder could be popping up at that point - if the option for a reminder is activated.

Or just define a timer (Navigation options | timers) in SD. Not as comfortable as your approach, but it's already implemented.

Edit: After rethinking my proposal I believe it's not as good an idea as I thought in first place.

If you have an iPhone you could set a Location based reminder for when you "arrive" at your destination other brands of phone may vary in what they call this, but probably do the same thing!

I do think that a reminder in SkyDemon would be a great idea however technologically its not as easy as the reminder option above, maybe you could look at some form of flight plan tracking variable on the skydemon route files (saved in the cloud) which is set to "true" when a flight plan is submitted using that route, in turn activating the alerts to close the plan etc. on that particular route when it is activated on a device?

Ash

This is one of the more absurd threads I've seen.
The thought of a reminder taking away personal responsibility isn't even coherent. Does your meeting reminder take away your responsibility for being at the meeting?
Not sure about your "moods" Shifu and frankly glad I don't have to deal with them beyond an idea forum.

If you don't want to lose your sense of responsibility, turn off all automation in your life. No autopilot, no GNSS (because you're not manually calculating a fix from the received signals) don't use your phone as a clock, listen to the BBC and set your wind-up watch by it...

Incredulous.

All airplanes will be unmanned soon enough. Where is your responsibility then?

The idea is a sound one and if not for the pride of an old pilot, then for the sake of the rescue personnel who are set on alert for nothing, over and over. Must be pretty wasteful and despiriting for those involved having to take care of a simple oversight.

If such an option helped to reduce the number of false call outs for unclosed flight plans, then I think the aviation community would be benefited tremendously.

Perhaps you weren't thinking about the greater community when you derided the idea, but you also didn't ask the question either.

At some point the flight plan will be closed by the app anyway, just as it is filed now. Using a cell phone to call and close the plan is no different, even if it is nostalgic for some.
Accept progress and recognize that this idea is a step in the direction things will go anyway. Or be a barnacle on the boat. Whatever you like.

Final helping point: the reason that avionics form a greater and greater share of an airplane's value is safety. They alleviate the cockpit management tasks which make flying the plane easier and safer.
This idea reduces mental clutter for those who don't get to fly so often, and might miss a detail or two. One less thing to worry about means more focus on flying the plane.

Thanks geohawk - for putting the right words to my suggestion.

Just had a sunday meeting in our flightclub where I mentioned the idea. First reaction was that one of the other pilot missed to close a flightplan last week - and he is flying every week IFR(uses Skydemon). Everyone supported the idea. The suggestion of using a rubber band, moving the clock from one arm to the other or using Iphone messages is fine but with the possibility to implement a solution in Skydemon it would not be nessesary. Another help to meet the pilots responsibility.

I just wonder if the possibility to implement the reminder to close the Flightplan is more possible in SD today? Not only for cross boarder flights one must file a FPL but also on all night VFR flights. The message when landed and eventually parked could be "If FlightPlan is in use - Remember to close the FlightPlan".

I have been asked to teach the members(32 of 124) of our flightclub in SD. Are there any educational material available? ‌‌

I prefer to keep things simple:

1. I have "flightplan closed" as an item in the after landing checklist.

2. I file my mobile number in the RMK field of the flightplan.
ATC will call this number. I tried it ;-)

Nevertheless, I could imagine to integrate a reminding feature into a future semi-automatic checklist.

Again, this proposed feature goes way beyond what we want the scope of SkyDemon to be.

We do have materials to help w‌ith presentations about SkyDemon, if you contact our support they may be able to help provide those.‌

Hi, having been bitten by forgetting to close my flight plan yesterday, I was wondering if there were any other discussions about this feature request over the past 5+ years?