In article , Nasir wrote:
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 always want a line on the chart.
I'll find the approximate time en-route, and data to tell me if I'm
behind or ahead of schedule. I certainly don't go to the nit-picky
detail that student pilots have to go to for VFR flight.

As for winds aloft, I'll look at the forecast, but I don't read anything
special into them, and don't do calculations. In the kind of planes I
fly, usually within the first few minutes of cruise flight, it's
possible to make a very good estimate of what heading must be flown to
maintain the course. Checkpoints and ground features allow fine tuning.
I've flown from cost to coast in the US using this method - without a
GPS - and never got lost.

The other thing I do is en-route, keep a note of time. I note the time
passing anything significant on the chart. Therefore when I do get
unsure of my position, it's easy to work out - "well, I was here 8
minutes ago, I must roughly be here now", and within seconds, I've
matched a landmark to something on the chart. One thing that I think is
not given anywhere near enough emphasis in VFR navigation is keeping
track of time. Time is as important as your course line.

I read an ILAFFT column, which summed up "Dead reckoning is the basis of
all aviation navigation. Everything else is just a refinement or aid".
Live by that motto and you'll never get truly lost.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"