1. Lockout-times
2. Amending Flight Plans
3. Cancelling Flight Plans
Lock-out times
In the USA
IFR flight plans can be filed up to 28 days in advance and will be transmitted to ATC up to 22 hours before the proposed departure time. Any flight plan filed less than 22 hours before the proposed departure will be sent to ATC immediately.
Amendment/Change (CHG) or Cancel (CNL)
IFR flight plans can be amended or canceled up to 47 minutes before the proposed departure time (in most cases), but some centers are over an hour (New York Center is 61 minutes). Once inside the "Filer Lock-out" window and the proposed departure time approaches the Center requires "Manual Coordination" to amended or cancel the flight plan, and you have to coordinate directly with ATC via phone or radio.
Delay (DLA) a Flight Plan
If your flight is delayed by up to 2 hours from your original departure time, just ask for your clearance. ATC still have the flight plan in their system and you should not have any problem obtaining your clearance. However, if your delay is more than 2 hours, we recommend filing a new flight plan as the previous one will expire.
Figure 1. FAA Lock-out and deletion times
In Canada
IFR flight plans can be filed up to 28 days in advance and will be transmitted to ATC up to 22 hours before the proposed departure time. Any flight plan filed less than 22 hours before the proposed departure will be sent to ATC immediately.
Amendment/Change (CHG), Cancel (CNL), or Delay (DLA)
IFR flight plans can be amended, canceled, or delayed up to 45 to 60-minutes prior to departure. Once inside the "Filer Lock-out" window, the FIR requires "Manual Coordination" to amend or cancel the flight plan, and you have to coordinate directly with the appropriate FIR.
When you need to amend your destination or route of flight, Nav Canada recommends that a new flight plan be filed.
Figure 2. NavCanada Lock-out times
In Europe
EuroControl allows IFR, YFR, and ZFR flight plans to be filed up to a maximum of 120 hours in advance of the Estimated Off-Block Time (EOBT+120 Hours).
VFR flight plans can be filed up to 22 hours in advance of the Estimated Off-Block time.
Amendment/Change (CHG) or Cancel (CNL)
IFR, YFR, and ZFR flight plans can be amended or canceled up to 2 hours before the Estimated Off-Block Time (“EOBT”). Between 2 hours prior to EOBT and EOBT, the fight plan may be changed, however, the flight plan will be labeled as a "Late Updater" in EuroControl. If the flight plan is labeled as a "Late Updater", there may be negative consequences if the airport begins issuing CTOTs. If you have not departed 30 minutes after your EOBT an FLS (Flight Suspension) will be issued. We do not recommend amending to change routing or significantly changing any part of the flight plan as this can lead to a higher probability of reaching a rejection.
Amending Flight Plans
- In this example, we have successfully filed a flight plan and want to change our cruise altitude from 8000ft to 6000ft.
Figure 3. Filed Flight Plan
- Select the cruise altitude field
Figure 4. Flight Plan filed at 8000ft
- Select the new cruise altitude of 6000ft
Figure 5. Altitude advisor
- The new cruise altitude of 6000 is now loaded in ForeFlight. It is important to note that the flight plan on file has not been changed.
Figure 6. Flight Plan altitude changed
- Select the amend button
Figure 7. Select the Amend button
- After selecting the Amend button, ForeFlight will detect that the filed flight plan and the one currently in ForeFlight are different. A pop-up box asking to confirm the changes and copy them to an Amended flight plan will appear.
Figure 8. Copy changes
- After confirming the changes and selecting the Copy button a new File screen will appear.
Figure 9. The File screen
- Select the "Amend" button to send the changes to ATC.
Figure 10. Select the Amend button
- After selecting Amend, the changes will be sent to ATC. You will receive an acknowledgment that the changes have been received and a new briefing will be sent to the email listed in the flight plan.
Cancelling Flight Plans
- First, ensure that the plan is on file. This will be indicated by the word "Filed" displayed in the lower left of the Flight screen.
- Second, ensure that you are outside of the Lock-out time for the region or FIR that the flight is filed from.
Figure 11. A Filed Flight Plan
- Select the Cancel button
Figure 12. The Cancel button
- A pop-up box will appear asking to confirm that you wish to cancel this flight plan. Select Yes to send the cancellation message to ATC.
Figure 13. Confirm that you wish to cancel the flight plan
- After the Cancel message is sent to ATC, you will receive an acknowledgment that the flight plan has been successfully canceled.
Figure 14. Cancellation acknowledged
- The status of the Flight Plan will now show as "Not Filed".
Figure 15. Flight plan status has changed