One of the things I’ve noticed is that many of these missing aircraft SAR operations are reported by the media as “no flight plan filed”. I understand the basics of Visual Flight Rule (VFR — no flight plan required) and Instrument Flight Rule (IFR — flight plan mandatory and ATC likes to get in touch with you if you deviate from that plan without notice).

I know we have several general aviation pilots on the board, including Doug and HTMLSpinnr. What are you guys’ input about preparedness and VFR flights? I know Doug wrote on this site (somewhere) that the “VFR system isn’t perfect”. I believe that you are still able to file a flight plan even under VFR, and I know that there are options such as ATC flight following (unless ATC resources are stretched) available to VFR pilots. What, other than a properly packed survival kit and a PLB, do you guys think is proper “preparation” for GA VFR aircraft?