Do you flight plan?

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

"Nasir" wrote in message
news
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?

For any cross country longer than abut 75 miles, I do a lot of planning.
But then us old geezers tend to be less bold as the years go by.

Even my flight instructor told me I would never plan flights the way I did as a
student. We've gone out with nary more than a weather briefing for the general
area we think we are going to, but that's more boring holes in the sky rather
than flying somewhere specific. The GPS makes it very easy to get very lazy so
always make sure you know where you are on the chart also in case you lose the
GPS. If you have an intended landing point you should check the notams enroute
and for the airport you are going to. After you start taking long cross
countries you find out that you often end up at some other airport anyway due to
weather, bathrooms, hunger, etc. I never planned fuel out to the last ounce
because I know in the old clunkers I fly they aren't anywhere near the book. I
told the DE that during the oral and she just smiled and said "besides we both
know private pilots don't know how to lean". I think I passed the ride right
then. In my plane we can burn anywhere from 10 to 14 depending on how we fly
it. I always plan 14, plus and hour reserve. I keep the baggage tank full as
ballast unless I have lots of luggage. I always have at least 20 gals when I
land.

Margy

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 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

How do you do that? I'm lucky to have the same old one.

{;-)

Jim



Margy Natalie
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

I always have at least 20 gals when I
-land.

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

"Jim Weir" wrote in message ...
How do you do that? I'm lucky to have the same old one.

{;-)


Must only be when she is solo, I've never seen them when I was in the plane.

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?

There's really only two important questions for the vast majority of
flights most private pilots take:

1) Am I going to run into any weather I can't handle?

2) Am I going to have enough fuel to get there? Corellary: can I buy
fuel there, or do I need to plan on enough to get back too?

There are other things to answer, but those are the big ones. Everything
else you do is to make sure you can answer those two questions.

I certainly see no reason to slog over computing wind correction angles
and groundspeed for each individual leg by hand. Let a computer crunch
the numbers for you. I use the feee planner available on DUATs, but
there's lots of alternatives to pick from.

You certainly want to look at a chart and make sure your proposed route
makes sense. Most flight planners are perfectly happy to tell you, to
the minute and the 1/10th of a gallon, what it takes to fly direct from
Atlantic City to Block Island, but a quick glance at a sectional will
make it obvious you're proposing a flight over open ocean. Likewise,
you want to know about stuff like mountain ranges, airspace, etc.

I'm a big fan of visual flying. Sure, VOR or GPS will get you where you
want to go, but I think picking out landmarks on a chart and finding
them from the air is a big part of the fun of flying.

On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:31:34 -0500, Roy Smith wrote in
Message-Id: :

You certainly want to look at a chart and make sure your proposed route
makes sense.

I have one cardinal rule regarding XC flights: Don't get in the
airplane without a course line drawn on the chart. The rest varies...

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...

There's really only two important questions for the vast majority of
flights most private pilots take:

1) Am I going to run into any weather I can't handle?

2) Am I going to have enough fuel to get there? Corellary: can I buy
fuel there, or do I need to plan on enough to get back too?

I agree, but I think there are two sorts of relevant question, of which
those represent one. They address the overall "should I even take off on
this flight?" issue. And that's necessary, but not the end of flight
planning. The other aspect is "can I do things now to minimize my workload
at difficult times?"

For example, one of the most important of these is the minimum altitude that
I can descend to for each leg, and how that might vary if I'm forced off
track by weather.

You have to consider that in context. I have the chart, and if all is quiet
in the cockpit I can just look at it and work out the minimum altitude.
It's if things get busy that the pre-planning might help. Same applies to
previewing IAPs, planning frequencies, and working out tracks for each leg.
Is it worth doing every single time? Maybe not, but there are times I've
been very grateful for some pre-work!

Julian Scarfe

For most VFR flights of significant length I plan carefully, especially since I
like to fly very low. I draw the lines on the sectionals, checking for special
use airspace, obstacles such as towers, landmarks, frequencies of interest
(ATIS and CTAF of nearby airports and navaids). I plan waypoints and calculate
time and distance, course and heading, and make note on my form of the maximum
obstacle altitudes along my route or quadrant as appropriate. I also put my
destiation frequences, runway designations, and altitudes and TPA up at the
top. In flight, having all this info readily available is very convenient and
helps keep track of where I am.

I don't pay much attention to the GPS... at least I try not to. Lean on it too
much and one day you'll realize you've become a passenger rather than a pilot.

I use pilotage as my primary navigation when VFR.

IFR I plan the route based on Victor airways, and then throw it all out upon
getting my clearance. I throw the clearance out when I get reroutes in flight.
However the planning does help me cope with reroutes because it helps me find
the new routing on the chart.

I am capable of just picking up and going, but I prefer to have the flight
planned ahead of time.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

For most VFR flights of significant length I plan carefully, especially
since I
like to fly very low.

This is an interesting statement that begs for an explanation. Why do you
like to fly "very low"?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"