Narrative:

Aircraft X inquired if he had a flight plan in the computer for xa:00; I had flight data check and there was a flight plan proposed at xa:00 via the BTY244044 (bty 244 radial at 44 nm) to the DAG356041 (dag 356 radial at 41 nm) with several more fixes and clearance limit of the bty 244 radial at 44 nm. At the time aircraft X was operating on a complex clearance at or above FL500 which requires the aircraft to remain within the R-2508 complex. At xa:00 aircraft X requested his IFR clearance. I issued aircraft X a clearance to the BTY244044 via the BTY244044 fix then as filed and to cross the R-2508 boundary in a block altitude FL510-FL590. At this point aircraft X is east-southeast of the BTY244044 heading north so I expected he would go past the fix and turn around and join the flight plan route. A few minutes later I observe aircraft X in the far northeast corner of R-2508 about to spill-out of R-2508 as aircraft X had never crossed the R-2508 boundary outbound on the flight plan route they are still required to comply with their complex clearance as IFR services are not being provided to participating aircraft until they exit on their assigned route. I issued a boundary alert to aircraft X and to turn south. Whiskey alerts were completed with ZOA 33 and ZLA 16. Aircraft X continued to fly northbound I then instructed them to turn south immediately as they were now 5 nm outside the airspace. The pilot snapped back that he was on an IFR clearance. I informed him that the clearance I had was the BTY244044 direct DAG356041 and within seconds the pilot replied they were turning south to join the proper route.I suspect what happened here is that aircraft X will file multiple flight plans with different proposed times and so when the asked about the xa:00 clearance there were no other xa:00 proposed time but there was a later clearance with a xd:00 proposed time and I think they started to fly that flight plan versus the one they were actually cleared.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: JCF TRACON Controller reported issues with a drone pilot and the possibility of flying a clearance that was supposed to be flown later.

Narrative: Aircraft X inquired if he had a flight plan in the computer for XA:00; I had flight data check and there was a flight plan proposed at XA:00 via the BTY244044 (BTY 244 radial at 44 nm) to the DAG356041 (DAG 356 radial at 41 nm) with several more fixes and clearance limit of the BTY 244 radial at 44 nm. At the time Aircraft X was operating on a complex clearance at or above FL500 which requires the aircraft to remain within the R-2508 complex. At XA:00 Aircraft X requested his IFR clearance. I issued Aircraft X a clearance to the BTY244044 via the BTY244044 fix then as filed and to cross the R-2508 boundary in a block altitude FL510-FL590. At this point Aircraft X is east-southeast of the BTY244044 heading north so I expected he would go past the fix and turn around and join the flight plan route. A few minutes later I observe Aircraft X in the far northeast corner of R-2508 about to spill-out of R-2508 as Aircraft X had never crossed the R-2508 boundary outbound on the flight plan route they are still required to comply with their complex clearance as IFR services are not being provided to participating aircraft until they exit on their assigned route. I issued a boundary alert to Aircraft X and to turn south. Whiskey alerts were completed with ZOA 33 and ZLA 16. Aircraft X continued to fly northbound I then instructed them to turn south immediately as they were now 5 nm outside the airspace. The pilot snapped back that he was on an IFR clearance. I informed him that the clearance I had was the BTY244044 direct DAG356041 and within seconds the pilot replied they were turning south to join the proper route.I suspect what happened here is that Aircraft X will file multiple flight plans with different proposed times and so when the asked about the XA:00 clearance there were no other XA:00 proposed time but there was a later clearance with a XD:00 proposed time and I think they started to fly that flight plan versus the one they were actually cleared.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.