For US student pilots
How to talk to Flight Service
Flight Service is the facility most student pilots never call, because everything it does can now be done on a phone or an app. Then one day you are airborne with a flight plan to open, or the weather ahead looks worse than the briefing, and the only tool you have is the radio. Here is who you are calling, on what, and what to say.
What Flight Service does
Pilot briefings, flight plan processing, en route flight advisories, search and rescue, help for lost aircraft and aircraft in emergencies, relaying ATC clearances, and broadcasting weather and aeronautical information (AIM 4-1-3; P/CG FLIGHT SERVICE STATION). What it does not do is control traffic: it issues no clearances of its own and gives no separation.
The call sign
An FAA Flight Service Station is called “(name) Radio”, in the AIM’s table of ground station call signs alongside “(name) Tower” and “(name) Approach” (AIM 4-2-6, TBL 4-2-1). Not “Flight Service”, not “Flight Watch”.
The frequency, and why you say it
If in doubt, 122.2 MHz is the common en route frequency at most Flight Service Stations (AIM 4-2-14 a). Other outlets are listed in the Chart Supplement and on sectional charts. One station listens on many transmitters spread across a region, so the AIM tells you to state the frequency you are using and your location on the first call, so the specialist answers on the transmitter you can hear (4-2-14 a note).
Dayton Radio, November One Two Three Four Five, on one two two point two, over Springfield V-O-R, over.
Opening a VFR flight plan in the air
Give the call sign, say you want to activate the flight plan, and the time off. Flight Service will confirm it is open. The AIM leaves the pilot responsible for opening and closing a VFR flight plan; ATC does not know you are on one (AIM 5-1-14).
Oakland Radio, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, on one two two point two, over Livermore, request to activate my VFR flight plan to Redding, off at one seven three zero.
Closing it
Close with the nearest Flight Service Station, or if you cannot reach one, ask any ATC facility to relay the cancellation (AIM 5-1-14). Towers do not close VFR flight plans automatically. If you have not closed it within half an hour of your ETA, search and rescue starts, at your expense of everyone’s afternoon. On the ground, the phone number is 1-800-WX-BRIEF (AIM 7-1-2 a).
Oakland Radio, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, on one two two point two, on the ground at Redding, close my VFR flight plan.
Weather in the air
Flight Service gives en route flight advisories (AIM 4-1-3). Say where you are, your altitude and route, and what you want: the current weather at your destination, a PIREP, or whether VFR is still recommended ahead. “VFR not recommended” is an advisory, not an order; the decision stays with you (P/CG VFR NOT RECOMMENDED).
Oakland Radio, Cessna Six Zero Foxtrot, on one two two point two, two zero miles south of Redding at four thousand five hundred, request current Redding weather and any PIREPs on the route.
Lost or in trouble
Flight Service assists lost aircraft and aircraft in emergencies (AIM 4-1-3), but if you are in distress, use the frequency you are already on or 121.5 (AIM 6-3-1). Do not spend the time changing to 122.2 to find a Flight Service outlet.
Flight Service — “(name) Radio”
Flight Service Stations give weather, open and close flight plans, and in Alaska give airport advisories. Call “(name) Radio”; if the station transmits from several outlets, say which frequency you are on and where you are so the specialist answers on the right transmitter. [AIM 4-2-3 a 2, b; 4-2-14]
Dayton Radio, November One Two Three Four Five, on one two two point two, over Springfield V-O-R, over.
122.2 MHz is the common en-route frequency at most FSSs when in doubt. [AIM 4-2-14 a]
Who you are talking to — ground station names
Call a facility by its name and its type. [AIM 4-2-6, TBL 4-2-1]
- (Name) Ground
- Ground control in the tower — taxi, before you move on the movement area.
- (Name) Tower
- The airport traffic control tower — runway, takeoff, landing, the pattern.
- (Name) Clearance Delivery
- IFR clearances at busier airports.
- (Name) Approach / Departure
- Radar approach control — VFR flight following, Class B and C airspace, sequencing to the tower.
- (Name) Center
- The air route traffic control center — en route, flight following away from a terminal area.
- (Name) Radio
- A Flight Service Station — weather, flight plans, in Alaska airport advisories.
- (Name) UNICOM
- The non-government station at an airport — wind and runway on request.
- (Name) traffic
- Not a station: the self-announce address on a CTAF at an airport with no operating tower. [AIM 4-1-9]
Make the call you never practiced
TowerTalk's Exercise E covers the services you can request in flight, with an AI facility that answers at a real US airport, graded with the AIM paragraph.
Related
Study aid, written in our own words from the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (Change 3, 7/9/26) and the Pilot/Controller Glossary, with paragraph references so you can check each point. Last reviewed 10 September 2026; awaiting review by a US flight instructor. It does not reproduce those documents and is not a substitute for them — always defer to the AIM, the current FAA publications, your instructor and your examiner. TowerTalk is not approved or endorsed by the FAA.