Reporting on block

[Levelmind]

Hi,

To my knowledge some countries, such as Spain and Italy, seem to have a procedure as to always report on block/engine shutdown, in order for ATC to close the flightplan. Now, my questions are fairly straight forward.

Firstly, why is it that these procedures are implemented? Is it due to old technology, or due to bad experiences doing otherwise?
Secondly, I've done some brief research without sucess, but which countries (in Europe) still have this procedure? As I previously mentioned, I believe Spanish and Italian ATC expect you to report on block, and I think that Greek ATC for example, explicitly closes the flightplan upon vacating the runway. But are there other countries that do the same?

Anyway, I thought I'd just ask since I found this an interesting topic.

Thanks

[LMX]

Never been instructed to do this and I fly more or less daily in both Spain and Italy. The only exception would be during LVPs at some airports.

[Levelmind]

Alright, interesting. Might be an old procedure that has changed in that case

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Never heard of it at Heathrow.

[+TSRA]

Not sure if it is a similar idea you're thinking of, but we have a procedure here in Canada when approaching an airport on an IFR flight plan, we have to report clear of the active runway when landing at an uncontrolled airport or airfield. This is because the controller may not have radar down to the ground, but is still responsible for the flight plan and alerting services, even though we will be off frequency talking to the local traffic.

The pilot can elect to cancel either the provision of IFR services and/or the alerting services if they are able to proceed with reference to VFR. Normally this is done to free up the airspace for other inbound or departing traffic.

When landing at a controlled airport or an airport with an operating flight service station, this report is not necessary as the flight plan and alerting services will be terminated by the controller or radio operator upon landing.