Basically, I download DUATs weather the night before and run my
Flitesoft program to get a time enroute. Then I run my finger across
my route and the charts to look for any special use airspace. The
thing that concerns me most nowadays is the TFR's. I usually look for
them in the DUATs download, the aeroplanner website, or both. In good
weather that's about it. In times of poor weather, I may monitor it
for a couple days before on various internet sites. On longer flight I
check out the cheap fuel on airnav.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.




Having received my PPL recently and been on several cross countries, I was
wondering how extensive of a flight plan do people prepare before the trip?

Do you guys do all the checkpoints on a map, calculate time/distance/fuel to
each leg? Do you just draw the line on the map and mark checkpoints that you
expect to see but not calculate other things? Do you always calculate winds
aloft and fly the appropriate heading?

I have found myself getting lazy and I dont do all that I did when planning
x-countries when I was training. I tend to draw my line and mark
checkpoints, make sure I have plenty of fuel to get to my destination (plus
an hour more) based on 6gal/hr average. But I dont calculate
time/distance/fuel to each leg. I also have a GPS so that makes getting lazy
easier!

How much do you all plan before each x-country? Am I the only slacker?

Nasir