If you do a flight itinerary, the important thing is to make sure that
the person really understands what to do, i.e. if I don't call you by X
time, call this phone number and give them this information. There was
an incident a while back when a pilot left a flight itinerary with an
acquaintance and then crashed, but the acquaintance didn't notify
anyone for days. In the event, the pilot died right away, but if he
had been survived the crash critically injured, it's unlikely he would
have got help in time.

As others have mentioned, a VFR flight plan can be just as vague --
i.e. "I'm sightseeing between Ottawa and Pembroke for 90 minutes and
then returning to the Ottawa airport". At least FSS knows what to do
if you don't close the plan.


All the best,


David