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Failure to familiarize yourself with all terrain features along your flight path has been judged by the FAA as a violation of the FARs.

Cross-Country Student Pilot Experience Requirements
Each flight with a landing at a point more than 50 nautical miles from the original departure point counts as cross-country time. Once flight must have landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is at least 100 nautical miles from the original departure point. FAR 61.109(b)(2) and 61.129(b)(3)(ii). An instrument student must have 50 hours of cross-country time subsequent to getting the private pilot rating.

Cross-Country Checkride
Test covers pilotage, dead reckoning, radio navigation, diversion to an alternate and lost procedures. Course must be long enough to check weight/balance and fuel calculations. PTS is said to allow flight to three miles either side of course. Altitude within 200'. You should hold to less than 1/4 mile off-course before making a correction. Radio navigation requires you to select and identify a navaid, locate your position, intercept and track a radial/bearing and note station passage. Diversion to an alternate requires you to pass a knowledge portion during the oral. Altitude and airspeed control is required as is prompt diversion to alternate with approximate heading, ground speed, fuel consumption, and ETA. All oral information is covered in Chapter 7 of AC 61-23B and AC 61-21A.

Lost procedures are usually covered during the oral. There are ways of creating "lost" situations in flight. Be prepared to demonstrate sufficient skill and knowledge to select the best course of action.

Airport/Facilities Directory
You will need a current Airport/Facilities Directory (A/FD). These are published every 56 days and contains supplemental information about airports and nav aids that cannot be easily places on sectionals. The FAA does not say that a pilot must have an A/FD, they do imply that you will be sorry if you don't.

The Airport/Facility directory has current information on airports, facilities, frequencies and procedures. GPS information is still to come. Airports are identified as to type of operation and special procedures available. Radar facilities and specialty information is listed such as Doppler radar and FSS facilities. Included are phone numbers

--1/3 of all VOR have direction/altitude restrictions that are spelled out in the A/FD. Get one before you begin making your cross-country flights. FAR 91.103 prescribes preflight action that can only be taken by having an A/FD.

--Center frequencies are in the back. Once NOTAMS have been published in the A/FD they are unavailable in routine briefings of NOTAMS you get by asking the FSS technician.

--Sectional chart changes of frequencies, outages, noise abatement, closures, that become semi-permanent are only available in the A/FD. This means that only the latest edition is a valid issue.
--Special Notices section.

The Pilot Operating Handbook
You will need a Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) specific to the year and model of the aircraft. You need it to confirm that the airports, runway lengths, elevations, times and distances are within the performance capabilities of your aircraft. FAR 91.151 indicates that you must have enough fuel to fly to your intended destination + 30 minutes day and 45 minutes night reserve. A fuel stop is not a waste of time, it provides time for you to make considered decisions and safer options.

Cross-Country Planners:
These computer plans cost several hundreds of dollars. They are optimized for your aircraft and will be will be direct, efficient and will take all the available information into the planning.

AOPA now has a Planner (2003)

Recommended:
$1.75 for plan if you give credit card information. Galaxy 98 Northwest Aero Associates of Elko, Nevada. 702 753-6990 http://
Give basics of planned route of flight and time of departure.
Delta Technology International
MentorPlus (Jeppesen)
Flight|Soft and Vista 800 533-3211

Flight Planning Basics and More
1. Know your airplane
2. Plan your load, fuel, airports, and weather
3. Know your route
4. Plan safest not shortest. Altitude selected as optimum for the airspace.
5. Know yourself.
6. Plan your limits, options, no-go factors and risk level.
7. Plan your what-ifs.
8. Beyond the no-go, consider mid-flight cancellation.
9. Set your flight standards
10. VFR, Wind velocities, fuel reserves, course tolerance, changing course options, altitude selection, communications.
11. Plan your checkpoints
12. Spacing, timing, ETAs, checklist emergency options, descent point
13. Plan your worst case situation
14. First, fly the plane, radio options

And More
--Basic VFR uses pilotage with a line on a map, checkpoints and compass heading.
--Practice with a chart over familiar areas will show you that what you see is not always on the chart.
--The ability to select useable checkpoints on a route is a basic skill best taught and learned by practice.
--Checkpoints are best if evenly spaced backwards from destination and on the left side of aircraft.
--Fly visually between two checkpoints at your cruising altitude and you have the required compass heading from your compass.
--Get the time between evenly spaced checkpoints and you can get your estimated time of arrival (ETA) and ground speed.
--Dead (Ded) reckoning is done the same way as pilotage but assumes you have no visual references.
--Add five minutes for every departure and another five for arrival if flight is below 5000 feet.
--Pilotage begins with line on the map, the true course, variation correction gives you magnetic course, wind
correction gives you magnetic heading and the deviation card gives compass heading.
--Magenta dashed lines on the chart gives the + variation required
--True winds from an FSS are used with true course on map to determine wind correction angle.
--Pilotage can be done by drawing true vectors of course and wind with a protractor and ruler just as accurately as with an E6-B
--True airspeed figures are obtained from POH for power setting and altitude selected.
--In most situations once you are flying you use your magnetic course numbers written on the chart.
--The assumption is (correctly) that the wind will never be as forecast.
--You must be on your magnetic course to use the wing tip to determine time at a checkpoint.
--An airport vicinity route will seldom make a big difference in your time en route.
--Use cruise climb or less if winds are against you. High winds are stronger.
--Climb high to pick up favorable winds.
--Fly to right side of valleys and roads
--Lean your mixture.
--Watch the weather movements and fly a day before or two days after a front.
--Vertical planning is more likely to cause an accident than lateral planning.
--Scud running (down and dirty) requires intimate knowledge of the area.
--Mountain flying tends to be along passes. AWOS is becoming available in passes.
--Always plan a backdoor option for mountain flying.
--Don't attempt marginal VFR flying at night. The odds are against you.

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