The reason we teach all that stuff in your training is so that you
understand the steps to create a complete and thorough flight plan.
Once you gain some experience, you can decide which steps to skip
over. You have to learn the long way first before taking short cuts.

If the flight is VFR, I draw a straight line on the sectional, look
for any airspaces, and then let DUATS figure out the wind corrections
and times etc.. It takes just a few minutes to do this.

I always call FSS immediately prior to the flight to check for any
NOTAMs or TFR. This has become a hot issue recently with all the
airspace incursions.

Just yesterday we witnessed such an airspace violation. It is a class
D airport whose tower normally closed on Sundays (reverts to class G).
But yesterday there was a NOTAM saying the tower will remain open.
Just as we were on final approach, an airplane was landing in front of
us. Tower altered us that that airplane was not talking to anyone.


"Nasir" wrote in message .com...
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