Flight Planning

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Flight Planning

• Aviation 51
• Natasha Flaherty
• natasha_at_mail.viking.org
• 1 650 592-7500
• 16 Feb 2003
• Version 2.0

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So you actually want to go somewhere?

• Flying requires a lot of planning and foresight
• It is imperative that you use proper flight
  planning procedures
• In this presentation I will present my process
  for flight planning, which is based on Jeppesen
  methodology and what I learned from my CFI
• At all stages in the process, evaluate your
  go/no-go decision
• Make every flight a safe flight!

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Agenda

• CFRs
• Abbreviations
• Flight Overview
• Developing the Route
• Preflight Weather Briefing
• Completing the Navigation Log
• Equations
• Flight Plan

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CFRs Relevant to Flight Planning

• 14 CFR 91.7  Civil aircraft airworthiness
• 14 CFR 91.103  Preflight action
• 14 CFR 91.151  Fuel requirements for flight in
  VFR conditions
• 14 CFR 91.153  VFR flight plan Information
  required

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14 CFR 91.7 Civil Aircraft Airworthiness

• No person may operate a civil aircraft unless it
  is in an airworthy condition.
• The pilot in command of a civil aircraft is
  responsible for determining whether that aircraft
  is in condition for safe flight. The pilot in
  command shall discontinue the flight when
  unairworthy mechanical, electrical, or structural
  conditions occur.

Note This is an excerpt of the CFRs pertinent
to our discussion. Refer to your FAR/AIM for the
complete list of CFRs.
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14 CFR 91.103 Preflight Action

• Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a
  flight, become familiar with all available
  information concerning that flight. This
  information must include --
• (a) For a flight under IFR or a flight not in the
  vicinity of an airport, weather reports and
  forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives
  available if the planned flight cannot be
  completed, and any known traffic delays of which
  the pilot in command has been advised by ATC
• (b) For any flight, runway lengths at airports of
  intended use, and the following takeoff and
  landing distance information
• (1) For civil aircraft for which an approved
  Airplane or Rotorcraft Flight Manual containing
  takeoff and landing distance data is required,
  the takeoff and landing distance data contained
  therein and
• (2) For civil aircraft other than those specified
  in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, other
  reliable information appropriate to the aircraft,
  relating to aircraft performance under expected
  values of airport elevation and runway slope,
  aircraft gross weight, and wind and temperature.

Note This is an excerpt of the CFRs pertinent
to our discussion. Refer to your FAR/AIM for the
complete list of CFRs.
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14 CFR 91.151 Fuel requirements for flight in
VFR conditions

• No person may begin a flight in an airplane under
  VFR conditions unless (considering wind and
  forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel
  to fly to the first point of intended landing
  and, assuming normal cruising speed --
• During the day, to fly after that for at least 30
  minutes or
• At night, to fly after that for at least 45
  minutes.
• No person may begin a flight in a rotorcraft
  under VFR conditions unless (considering wind and
  forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel
  to fly to the first point of intended landing
  and, assuming normal cruising speed, to fly after
  that for at least 20 minutes.

Note This is an excerpt of the CFRs pertinent
to our discussion. Refer to your FAR/AIM for the
complete list of CFRs.
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14 CFR 91.153 VFR flight planInformation
required

• Information required. Unless otherwise authorized
  by ATC, each person filing a VFR flight plan
  shall include in it the following information
• The aircraft identification number and, if
  necessary, its radio call sign.
• The type of the aircraft or, in the case of a
  formation flight, the type of each aircraft and
  the number of aircraft in the formation.
• The full name and address of the pilot in command
  or, in the case of a formation flight, the
  formation commander.
• The point and proposed time of departure.
• The proposed route, cruising altitude (or flight
  level), and true airspeed at that altitude.
• The point of first intended landing and the
  estimated elapsed time until over that point.
• The amount of fuel on board (in hours).
• The number of persons in the aircraft, except
  where that information is otherwise readily
  available to the FAA.
• Any other information the pilot in command or ATC
  believes is necessary for ATC purposes.
• Cancellation. When a flight plan has been
  activated, the pilot in command, upon canceling
  or completing the flight under the flight plan,
  shall notify an FAA Flight Service Station or ATC
  facility.

Note This is an excerpt of the CFRs pertinent
to our discussion. Refer to your FAR/AIM for the
complete list of CFRs.
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Abbreviations

• AFD
• Airport Facilities Directory
• AGL
• Above Ground Level
• ATC
• Air Traffic Control
• CFR
• Code of Federal Regulations
• CFI
• Certified Flight Instructor
• FL
• Flight Level
• FSS
• Flight Service Station

• IFR
• Instrument Flight Rules
• MSL
• Mean Sea Level
• NOTAM
• Notice To Airmen
• POH
• Pilots Operating Handbook
• SFC
• Surface
• VFR
• Visual Flight Rules
• WAC
• World Aeronautical Chart

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Flight Overview

• Consider your destination(s)
• Get an overall picture of your route

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Consider Your Destinations

• Dont waste time planning a route to an airport
  that wont meet your needs
• Ask yourself whether the airport (check your
  AFD)
• Has a long enough wide enough runway for me?
• Is far enough away enough flight time to meet
  my target aeronautical experience requirement?
• Check 14 CFR 61.109 for Private Pilot certificate
  requirements
• Has fuel oil if I need it?
• Has lighted runways if I need them?
• Has repair services (or make a contingency plan)?
• Is known for hellish crosswinds beyond my
  abilities?
• Is more than likely going to be fogged in?

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Get an Overall Picture of your Route

• Plot your course on a sectional chart (or WAC if
  necessary)
• Do you need to avoid Class Bravo or
  Prohibited/Restricted/Special Use airspaces?
• Are there mountains in the way that are beyond
  your abilities/training?

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Developing the Route

• Plot your course on both the Sectional and
  Terminal Area Charts (also WAC if necessary)
• Choose mark easily identifiable check points
• 2 check points close together to get you aligned
  on your course and then every 15 minutes or so
• Check points might be directly on your course, or
  just to the side so you can see them
• Determine appropriate altitudes
• Terrain obstruction heights
• VFR Cruising Altitudes
• Note alternative airports and their facilities
• Begin filling out your Navigation Log with this
  information

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What makes a good check point?

• Daytime
• Airports
• Dams
• Large bodies of water
• Large highway intersections
• VORs
• Quarries
• SLAC

• Nighttime
• Lighted cities
• Lighted highway intersections
• VORs

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14 CFR 91.159 VFR Cruising Altitude or Flight
Level

• Except while holding in a holding pattern of 2
  minutes or less, or while turning, each person
  operating an aircraft under VFR in level cruising
  flight more than 3,000 feet above the surface
  shall maintain the appropriate altitude or flight
  level prescribed below, unless otherwise
  authorized by ATC
• (a) When operating below 18,000 feet MSL and --
• (1) On a magnetic course of zero degrees through
  179 degrees, any odd thousand foot MSL altitude
  500 feet (such as 3,500, 5,500, or 7,500) or
• (2) On a magnetic course of 180 degrees through
  359 degrees, any even thousand foot MSL altitude
  500 feet (such as 4,500, 6,500, or 8,500).
• 14 CFR 91.159 also specifies cruising altitude
  rules for higher flight levels

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Preflight Weather Briefing

• Flight Service Station Briefings
• Outlook Briefing
• More than 6 hours in advance
• Standard Briefing
• 6 hours or less in advance
• Abbreviated Briefing
• Only need to update one or two specific items
• http//www.duats.com
• 1 (800) WX-BRIEF
• Additional Weather Data Sources
• National Weather Service NOAA
• http//www.nws.noaa.gov
• AOPA for members only
• http//www.aopa.org

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When you call FSS for a preflight briefing, tell
them the following

• Identify yourself as a private pilot flying VFR
• Specify that you want an Outlook, Standard,
  or Abbreviated briefing
• Aircraft tail number
• Origin, destination, route
• Time of departure and time enroute
• Cruising altitude

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Completing the Navigation Log

• Write in
• Check points
• VOR info
• Course
• Altitude
• Winds aloft
• True Airspeed
• True Course
• Leg distances between checkpoints
• Highlight Course Heading blocks
• Highlight ATA blocks
• Airport runway info
• Radio frequencies

• Calculate
• WCA
• True Heading
• Magnetic Heading
• Course Heading
• Estimated Groundspeed
• Estimated Time Enroute
• Fuel Burn
• Total Distance
• Fuel Remaining

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Course Equations

• True Course
• /- Wind Correction Angle
• True Heading
• /- Variation
• Magnetic Heading
• /- Deviation
• Compass Heading

East is Least and West is Best when going
from True to Compass
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Course Equations

• Compass Heading
• -/ Deviation
• Magnetic Heading
• -/ Variation
• True Heading
• -/ Wind Correction Angle
• True Course

East is Best and West is Least when going
from Compass to True
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Wind Correction Angle

• Your E6B will help you compute your WCA
• True Course minus a Left WCA gives you True
  Heading
• True Course plus a Right WCA gives you True
  Heading

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Variation

• Variation is the error in the magnetic compass
  caused by the difference between true north and
  magnetic north
• The Earths magnetic field is produced by the
  movement of molten iron more than 1,850 miles
  (3,000 km) below the surface in northern Canada
  and influenced to some degree by charged
  particles streaming from the sun.
• The magnetic north pole is moving out of Canada!
  Check http//www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/20/n
  orth.pole/?related?related
• The amount of variation along your route of
  flight is shown on the Isogonic lines
• Variation is Easterly or Westerly
• The Agonic line is the line of 0 variation
• For flight planning purposes, round variation to
  the nearest whole degree

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Deviation

• Deviation is the error in the magnetic compass
  caused by surrounding metal and electromagnetic
  fields
• Your aircrafts deviation card will tell you what
  compass heading to steer in order to achieve a
  particular magnetic heading
• Interpolation may be required if your desired
  magnetic heading falls in between two magnetic
  heading values
• If deviation values are small, they may be
  negligible
• Your heading indicator is marked in 5 increments
• How steady can you fly your course anyway? ?

Deviation Card for N1729Y
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Interpolation

• The process of estimating values between two
  known values
• Mathematically finding the ratio of two ranges,
  in order to determine the middle value
• May or may not be required for flight planning,
  depending on what level of precision is required
• Rember the Keep it Simple principle in order to
  lessen the chance of error!

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Example of Interpolation

• Bill and Jorge decide to split a pizza.
• The pizza costs 9.00 and has 6 slices.
• Bill eats 5 slices
• Jorge eats 1 slice
• How much should Bill pay?

Reference University of Michigan Navy ROTC
NavCompasses-Lesson5.ppt
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Example of Interpolation

• Eating all the pizza slices costs 9.00
• Eating none of the pizza costs 0.00
• So Bill has eaten 5/6 of 9.00
• 5/6 times 9.00 7.50
• This is interpolation - calculation of an
  internal value by assuming a linear relationship
  with surrounding data.

Reference University of Michigan Navy ROTC
NavCompasses-Lesson5.ppt
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Computing Fuel Burn

• Check your POH for details for
• Taxi and run-up fuel allowance
• Climb fuel burn
• Cruise fuel burn
• Err on the conservative side!
• Round up to tenths of gallons that you will use
• It is important that you use proper leaning
  techniques in flight, or else you wont achieve
  the fuel burn you are expecting

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Rate Equations

• Distancenautical miles Speedknots Timehours
• 60Distancenautical miles Speedknots
  Timeminutes
• Mnemonic Sixty D STreet
• Fuel Burnedgallons Burn RateGPH Timehours
• 60Fuel Burnedgallons Burn RateGPH Timeminutes
• Your E6B will make these computations, but you
  need to understand how the numbers are derived

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Flight Plan
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Flight Plan

• File your flight plan with FSS
• 1 (800) WX-BRIEF
• www.duats.com
• A flight plan is a request to search for you if
  you are overdue 30 minutes
• Begins with a telephone search, then full scale
  SAR mission
• It is extremely important that you remember to
  close your flight plan, or update FSS enroute if
  you are delayed
• If FSS doesnt find you with a telephone search
  and initiates a SAR when you are not really lost,
  you will be fined!
• Make sure that if you update enroute with another
  FSS, they forward the info on to the FSS that you
  filed the plan with!
• Once the FSS I updated my flight plan with
  enroute forgot to tell my local FSS that I filed
  withmy local FSS started a search for me!

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Example Flight SQL-VCB

• Heres how I would fly from San Carlos to
  Vacaville in a Cessna 172
• A note on my climb performance calculations
• I choose to climb to cruising altitude at 85
  knots indicated airspeed, instead of 73 knots,
  for better safer visibility
• The aircraft I fly arent brand new
• Hence Ive observed empirically that I should add
  35 to the climb performance numbers I found in
  the P.O.H. for my aircraft for more realistic
  conservative calculations
• You need to determine what is appropriate for
  your aircraft

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Helpful Hints for Navigation Logs

• My notation style
• Underline runway numbers with Right Pattern
  traffic
• Highlight Actual Time of Arrival (ATA) blocks so
  that in the air you immediately know what blocks
  to write in first at each checkpoint
• Highlight course headings so that at a glance you
  know what heading to steer
• Round ETAs to nearest whole minute, and use a
  or to indicate whether the time was over or
  under that amount
• Round distance to the nearest whole nautical mile
• With .5nm, sometimes I cant decide which way to
  round ?
• Sometimes I draw small airport diagrams on my log
  in order to visualize expected traffic patterns

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Helpful Hints for Navigation Logs

• Calculating fuel burn
• For the climb portion of your flight, use your
  P.O.H. to tell you how many minutes you will be
  climbing and how much fuel you will burn in climb
• Then use your estimated ground speed during climb
  to calculate how much ground distance you will
  cover during your climb
• For the cruise and descent segments of flight,
  use 60DST to calculate your time enroute
• Then use your estimated fuel burn rate for that
  cruising altitude to calculate the amount of fuel
  used on that segment
• Always round up to be more conservative dont
  skimp on fuel requirements!
• Dont forget to add in your fuel requirements for
  taxi run-up at the beginning of your flight!

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Example Flight Plan SQL-VCB

• I would call 1 (800) WX-BRIEF to file this
  flight plan
• I include my mobile phone number and my home base
  FBO phone number in the contact sectionthese
  would be used in an FSS initial telephone search

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Helpful Hints for Student Pilots in Training

• As student pilots, youll have several cross
  country flights of specified distance and
  duration you need to make
• Your CFI is required to review your flight plan
  and endorse you for that flight over the
  specified route on that day using a current
  weather briefing
• Avoid a last minute rush to finish your flight
  planning meet your instructor with the tips on
  the following slides

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Helpful Hints Have Weather Alternates

• Avoid weather disappointments by planning several
  flights that will meet your objective to
  different areas
• Chart the courses in advance
• Consider details such as runway fuel
  requirements, etc.
• Fill in the navigation logs in advance except for
  weather related information
• A few hours before the flight, get the latest
  weather briefing, pick the route that has
  feasible weather, and complete the navigation log
  for that route

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Helpful Hints Aeronautical Experience

• Know the aeronautical experience requirements and
  make a plan on how you will meet them
• 14 CFR 61.1 3ii defines Cross Country time (other
  than rotorcraft) as time acquired during a
  flight
• Conducted in an appropriate aircraft
• That includes a point of landing that was at
  least a straight-line distance of more than 50
  nautical miles from the original point of
  departure and
• That involves the use of dead reckoning,
  pilotage, electronic navigation aids, radio aids,
  or other navigation systems to navigate to the
  landing point.
• 14 CFR 61.109a defines aeronautical experience
  requirements for airplane single-engine rating

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14 CFR 61.109a Aeronautical ExperienceFor an
airplane single-engine rating

• Except as provided in paragraph (i) of this
  section, a person who applies for a private pilot
  certificate with an airplane category and
  single-engine class rating must log at least 40
  hours of flight time that includes at least 20
  hours of flight training from an authorized
  instructor and 10 hours of solo flight training
  in the areas of operation listed in
    61.107(b)(1) of this part, and the training
  must include at least --
• (1) 3 hours of cross-country flight training in a
  single-engine airplane
• (2) Except as provided in   61.110 of this part,
  3 hours of night flight training in a
  single-engine airplane that includes --
• (i) One cross-country flight of over 100 nautical
  miles total distance and
• (ii) 10 takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop
  (with each landing involving a flight in the
  traffic pattern) at an airport.
• (3) 3 hours of flight training in a single-engine
  airplane on the control and maneuvering of an
  airplane solely by reference to instruments,
  including straight and level flight, constant
  airspeed climbs and descents, turns to a heading,
  recovery from unusual flight attitudes, radio
  communications, and the use of navigation
  systems/facilities and radar services appropriate
  to instrument flight
• (4) 3 hours of flight training in preparation for
  the practical test in a single-engine airplane,
  which must have been performed within 60 days
  preceding the date of the test and
• (5) 10 hours of solo flight time in a
  single-engine airplane, consisting of at least
• (i) 5 hours of solo cross-country time
• (ii) One solo cross-country flight of at least
  150 nautical miles total distance, with full-stop
  landings at a minimum of three points, and one
  segment of the flight consisting of a
  straight-line distance of at least 50 nautical
  miles between the takeoff and landing locations
  and
• (iii) Three takeoffs and three landings to a full
  stop (with each landing involving a flight in the
  traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating
  control tower.

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Any Questions?
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Flight Planning

• Aviation 51
• Natasha Flaherty
• natasha_at_mail.viking.org
• 1 650 592-7500