Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Can you reactivate an IFR flight plan after cancelling it and continue
from some point within the plan, or do you have to file a brand new
one if you want to return to IFR.

I take it there's no such thing as "suspend IFR."

Certainly not in those words. There *is* such a thing as a compound
flight plan. This is used where you want to transition from IFR to VFR
or VFR to IFR at a certain point. However, the very few folks I know
who have ever tried to file such a thing have always run into problems
(controller doesn't understand, thing gets munged in the computer,
etc.). Usually easier to file TWO flight plans, one VFR and one IFR,
that swap off at some point. Or, more commonly, just request the change
in the air.

There is also a /D+xx that can be filed. It's used (at least in theory)
when you want to "suspend" the IFR flight for a few minutes at an
airport, usually to pick up or drop off a passenger. You file the route
something like CWK V17 TPL/D+15 V17 ACT where TPL is the Temple Texas
airport and you are going to be on the ground 15 minutes or less.

The problem is, it almost never works. Controllers have forgotten what
it means, and they don't like to have to keep the airspace sanitized
while you are on the ground. They would again much prefer you to simply
file TWO flight plans (in this case, one to TPL and one from TPL).

For the case you described that started this thread, the usual case is
simply to request deviations as needed. But IFR is really *not* for
sightseeing. [That's why airlines fly IFR always, now. They used to
always "sightsee" in good weather, until the day two of them ran into
each other over the Grand Canyon. After that the rules changed.]

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James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1300 Koenig Lane West fax 512-371-5716
Suite 200
Austin, Tx 78756
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