Flight Planning

Plan the flight, fly the plan

Technique
1. Plot Course
a. Get true course
b. Select checkpoints (9 22nm)
c. Start nav log
2- Weather briefing
a. Go/no-go decision
b. Adjust route if necessary
c. Select altitude
3- Performance Calculations
a. Wt/Bal
b. Takeoff/ldg dist
c. Time/fuel/dist to climb
d. Time/fuel in cruise
e. Complete nav log
4- File if desired and execute

Plot Course
1.

Using your plotter, draw a line from center of departure

point to center of destination airport
1.

Look for hazards along your route

1.
2.
3.

2.

2.

Adjust course if necessary

Find your true course

1.
2.
3.

3.
4.

Special Use Airspace

Terrain
Large bodies of water

Lay plotter down with top edge along route

Place center on a line of longitude
Read true course on East or West scale

Mark mileage in 5 or 10 mile intervals on your route

Example: SBN to SMD (Smith Field in Fort Wayne)

Checkpoint Selection
What makes a good checkpoint?
Precision
An intersection of two roads is more precise than the point where your course
is supposed to intersect a road

Visibility
Radio towers make poor checkpoints because they are difficult to see from
the air
Airports make great checkpoints because they are very easy to see from the
air

Distinctiveness
Using a lake as a checkpoint when flying across New Mexico makes sense
Using a lake as a checkpoint when flying across east Texas increases your
odds of mistakenly identifying your checkpoint

Checkpoint Selection
Selecting the first checkpoint
Should be within 5-10 miles of departure point
Establishes your initial heading as correct

Additional checkpoints
Select additional checkpoints every 9 22 miles
thereafter

Example:
I chose the following checkpoints:
Golden Dome / Basilica (initial point)
Bypass road south of Elkhart
Syracuse
Merriam

Weather Briefing
Get a weather briefing from an official source
1-800-WX-BRIEF
DUAT or DUATS

Make a go/no-go decision

VFR flight not recommended
Conditions beyond your ability
Winds
MVFR or IFR clouds and weather
Convective activity
Precipitation

Adjust route if necessary

Select altitude
Winds Aloft will inform this decision

Performance Calculations
Weight and Balance
Weight information will be required for
performance calculations
Example: Assume max gross weight

Takeoff / Landing distance

Ensure your aircraft is capable of
making it out of your departure airport
and in/out of your destination airport

Performance Calculations
Time / Fuel / Distance to Climb
Cessna charts make this
calculation very simple
Take value at your cruise altitude
and subtract value from departure
pressure altitude
Make approximations as
appropriate
There is no need calculate to a level of
precision beyond what is given in the
chart
Therefore, find:
Time to the nearest minute
Fuel to the nearest tenth gallon
Distance to the nearest mile

Performance Calculations
Time / Fuel / Distance to Climb Example
Climb from SBN (799 ft) to 4,500 ft
Weather:
SBN 07010G15 10SM CLR 13/M02 A2997

Approximations
Difference between pressure alt. & true alt is 50 feet,
negligible
Difference between SBN elevation and 1000 foot
entries is negligible

Values for 4,500 feet (by interpolation)

Time: 7 min
Fuel: 1.7 (conservative estimates dictate rounding up)
Distance: 10 miles (only valid in zero wind)

Values for 1,000 feet

Time: 1 min
Fuel: 0.4 gal
Distance: 2 miles

Climb totals
Time: (7 1) = 6 minutes
Fuel (1.7 - .4 ) = 1.3 (+ 1.1 for tax & takeoff) = 2.4 gal
Wind is nonzero, so note avg climb speed: 76 knots

Performance Calculations
Before we can complete nav log, we need to find
our top of climb (TOC) & top of descent (TOD)
points
Procedure
Use Winds Aloft to find groundspeed
Use time-to-climb to find distance

Example
Winds Aloft
FWA

3000
0416

6000
3615

For climb, use winds at 3000

Interpolate: winds at cruise altitude (4,500) are 020 at 16

Performance Calculations
E6-B
Turn to wind side
Set wind direction (040) opposite true index
Mark wind velocity (16) up from grommet
Set true course (123) opposite true index
Slide the TAS arc (76) under the wind dot
Read ground speed under grommet (72)
Read wind correction angle at wind dot (12 deg
left)

Performance Calculations
Top of Climb point
Turn to computer side of E6-B
First question: How fast?
72 (our calculated groundspeed for the climb)

Earlier, we computed the climb would take

6 minutes
Read distance (7.2) above minute (6) scale
For the mathematically astute, 6 minutes is 1/10
of an hour, so the TOC distance is a tenth of our
groundspeed

Performance Calculations
Top of Descent point
Figure a 500 foot per minute descent
From 4500 to 1800 (Traffic Pattern Altitude at SMD) is a 2700 foot
descent, or 5.4 minutes

130 knots is a good descent airspeed in the 172

Use same winds (040 at 16)
Flip to wind side of E6-B
Wind dot is still valid; slide up to 130 knot TAS arc
Read groundspeed under grommet (127)
Read WCA under wind dot (7 deg left)

Flip to computer side of E6-B

How fast?
127 knots

Read descent distance (11.5 miles) over descent time (5.4 minutes)

Performance Calculations
Check cruise performance to
find TAS and GPH en route
Plan on max continuous power
setting (75% BHP)
Temperature is standard
500 foot difference on
performance chart is negligible
Use 4000 foot data
KTAS is 114 knots
GPH is 8.6

Complete Nav Log

Measure distances between each checkpoint
Dont forget to factor in your TOC and TOD points

Fill in each checkpoint and leg distance

Compute cruising groundspeed
Find cruising wind correction angle
Apply magnetic variation
Find ETE between checkpoints
Find fuel consumption between checkpoints

Complete Nav Log

Example: Find cruising ground speed
(Previously interpolated) winds are 020 at 16
Go to wind side of E6-B
Set wind direction (020) opposite true index
Mark wind velocity (16) up from grommet
Set true course (123) opposite true index
Slide TAS arc (114) under wind dot
Read groundspeed under grommet (116)
Read WCA under wind dot (8 deg left)

Complete Nav Log

Apply WCA to True Course
-L, +R

Apply magnetic variation

A check of the sectional indicates one isogonic line
along route of flight, +5 deg W
-E, +W (East is least, West is best)

Result is magnetic heading

This is as far as we can go until we look at the compass
card in the aircraft

Complete Nav Log

Example (cont)
Find ETE between checkpoints
Already computed ETE (6 min) and fuel consumption (2.4 gal) to TOC
point
Fill values in on nav log

Flip to computer side of E6-B

How fast? 116 knots
Read ETE underneath distance
Round off to nearest minute

Find fuel consumption between checkpoints

E6-B
How fast? 8.6 GPH
Read fuel consumed over minutes scale
Round to nearest tenth gallon

Subtract en route fuel from total

Assume a full fuel load (53 gal)

File Flight Plan