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?

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

I am a renter pilot, so the first item on the list is to determine
aircraft availablity and schedule as soon as a trip is conceived. For
example, two weeks ago, I scheduled my aircraft of choice for the week
of Airventure/Oshkosh 2004.

If I am taking a long cross country, I begin the actual route planning
a week or two before the planned departure date. This allows me to
speak directly to FBO's and make any necessary arrangements and
reservations. Better to schedule heated hangar reservations in advance
than at the last minute. If there are special events scheduled for your
destination airport you can reserve tiedown/hangar space early.
For renter pilots, this is also a good time to check that there is no
maintenance scheduled prior to your departure that will affect the date
and time. If you need to schedule another aircraft, do so as soon as
practicle.

Route planning is a matter of looking at the Sectional/WAC/Planning
Chart(s) and determining a route based on aircraft, passengers, weather
and terrain.
Once the route is determined, it is time for DUATs/DUAT to crunch the
numbers. For initial planning, select the no-wind option and plug in
the route. Once you have total trip length and time, you break the trip
into leg times of your comfort level. This is the first pass to
derermine an area for intermediate stops. With the intermediate area
determined, you can fine tune to the exact airport based on your needs.

I start looking at weather prog charts five days prior to departure and
check them each day to observe how the forecasts change.
Three day prior to departure, forecast winds are available and
DUATs/DUAT is used to determine preliminary leg times, fuel
consumption, and if necessary, route changes.

Twenty four hours prior to departure, unless there is something really
funky going on with the weather, weather, route, time/fuel/distance is
firmed up. Also, last minute NOTAMS generally become available.

Eight to ten hours prior to deparature, a weather check is done to
ascertain that the weather is holding and NOTAMs are verified.

One hour prior to departure, a call to FSS is made for last minute
verification and NOTAM checks.