I met a chap who was in receipt of a 20,000 Euro bill for SAR services after landing at a German airfield from Scandinavia for an overnight and forming the impression that the tower radio operator had closed his FPL. They hadn't. Quite why SAR could not just send the local plod to the airfield to look for him I don't know.
I always feel deeply uncomfortable about not closing VFR plans when returning to my UK base, usually after closing time, from abroad. Asking UK ATC to close a plan whilst still in the air produces a shower of spurious excuses including "not until your wheels are on the ground due to our duty of care" and the other day "we are not allowed to do that". All of which is rubbish since it doesn't make any difference anyway.
I think being in the frame of mind to always close VFR FPL's regardless of where you are is essential discipline to learn because while it does not matter here, it certainly does everywhere else. It's very easy to forget to close an FPL, epecially when landing at a strange airfield and becoming distracted. In my experience the only reliable way to do it (especially in US) is to close from the air before contacting approach or tower, if there is one, because in US tower will not close an FPL.
The UK's sloppy, amateurish system encourages bad habits which can prove very expensive to the pilot.
Last edited by david viewing; 20th Aug 2012 at 10:53.