I need to know what the weather is enroute and at destination. I need
to know how far it is. I need to know the headwinds. I need to know
how much fuel. I need to know the restricted airspaces along the way.
I need to know the frequencies I need. If I have that, I am usually
set to go. How I get this information depends on how far it is, and
how familiar I am with the route etc. It all depends. I use
Fligh****ch a lot during my longer flights, and I monitor on shorter
ones. If it is fairly good weather, I can get the enroute and
destination weather from Fligh****ch enroute. The GPS and charts give
me the rest of the information I need. I can also monitor the AWOS's
along the way. If things get dicey, I can file a flight plan enroute
and pick up flight following. If i am above the cloud deck, I can pick
up a "pop-up" for an approach or descent to below the clouds. Good
luck on your training!

Of course as a primary student, you need to do a formal flight plan.
Later on, you will learn how to abbreviate it. We have a lot of flying
freedom in the country, and I like it and respect it. Just don't run
out of gas!

(Gene Seibel) wrote in message . com...
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