Planning a Cross-Country
I have my students get as much on the sectional as they can in the way of airport frequencies and information. Of all the cockpit papers the sectional is the most useful to have readily at hand and least likely to get lost. I do not require a 'conventional log' but I do ask them to make a log of their own design with all the checkpoints, Altitudes, MC, WCA, MH, ETA/ATA, Fuel use, etc. Before the flight we transfer all of the practical information on to the sectional. Then we fly the flight and write the info on the sectional as it occurs and can be reverenced directly with surface below. After the flight the information can be written in the log. My intention is to have the information where it is both available and meaningful.

Pilot judgment is a process, which produces a thoughtful, considered and pre-planned decision relating to the aircraft's operation along with the action/inaction to go with that decision. The ability to make the best decision involves searching for and establishing the relevance of all available information regarding a flying situation, specifying alternative courses of action and determining expected outcomes from each. The more knowledge we have the greater the resources on which we have to draw to evaluate a situation and specify a course of action.

Plan to navigate in straight lines where terrain and airports make such flight safe. Often a dogleg near the beginning or end of the flight will permit a much safer, lower, and airport vicinity routing. Try to minimize flight time but remember fuel stop time can be avoided by slower flight speeds. Again, a fuel stop does not waste time. It buys decision making time and provide safer options. Evaluate fuel remaining at every third checkpoint during a flight. Compare your estimates with actual consumption every time you refuel.

Of all the cross-country planning decisions, the no-go decision is the most difficult to make and stick to. We all want to fly. The patience to accept that the figures just do not add up to equal a safe flight takes some seasoning to be come part of your planning. Non-pilots seem all to ready to fly when they have absolutely no comprehension of the hazards involved. You, the pilot, must recognize that only your judgment, training, and skill can make the safe decision.

The preliminaries an instructor uses to determine if a student has properly prepared for a cross-country will cover up to forty different areas. The questioning will cover the FARs, weight and balance, route selection, checkpoint selection, altitude selection, radio procedures, weather and all else needed to file and fly a flight plan. Additional areas include procedures knowledge, use of references, aircraft manual use, maintenance records, required paper work, chart reading, fuel consumption, speed computation and decision making.

BEGINNING:
1. Locate destinations on sectional
2. Draw multiple lines /// between points
3. Starting from destinations try to locate checkpoints that are evenly spaced so that only the first point after departure is uneven. (This makes ETA easy)

Z-marker instead of straight lines might be a better way for writing information along course line..

Timing Checkpoints
Timing is essential. However, the workload can be greatly reduced by selecting visual/VOR checkpoints
that allow for evenly spaced distances between points. You work backwards from your destination working along the True Course line. With a bit of effort you can get points that allow similar spacing distances ranging from 10 to 20 miles along the route. Only your distance from departure airport to first checkpoint would be at variance.

The advantage of this should be obvious. Once you have the time between the first and second checkpoint
after departure you can easily determine your ETA for the remainder of the trip. ETA changes can be made
as wind affects the times.

One of the best benefits of this method is that it is likely to make you study the route more carefully than you would otherwise. Once you have made this method work you will never try any other method other than GPS.

Key Elements of Cross-Country Planning
Preflight preparation and planning is the foundation of safe flying. The failure to recognize the importance of a comprehensive preflight is an invitation to in-flight difficulties. Primary consideration is the condition of the pilot. It takes only one 'risk element' to make a flight no-go.
0.5. Aircraft papers
--Airworthiness certificate
--Registration certificate
--POH or FM on aircraft
--Weight and balance papers
1. Charts
--The line on the cart represents true course
--The sectional has 8-miles to the inch so a ruler can be used to mark checkpoint distances from the straight-line
destination back to the departure either in 8 or 16 mile segments as desired. Quick and easy. Use visual
checkpoints to the left of course where possible and VORs left or right when the intercept angle is 60-degrees
or greater.
-- WAC charts are 16 miles to the inch.
--WAC charts have limited communications and airport information but are useful on longer flights.
--The use of out of date charts or WAC charts for local navigation is a hazardous practice.
--Any flight within the boundaries of an area chart requires possession of that area chart in the aircraft.
--Carrying a current AF/D will give you considerable information not available on charts.
2. Route
--The temptation to fly direct air routes is great. However, the economies of direct route often expose the flight to
unnecessary hazards.
--Select alternate routes.
--Review minimum enroute altitudes.
--Fly low to study terrain clearance. Use this knowledge when flying at night.
--By flying small ifr (I follow roads) or an airport vicinity route you increase your options.
--A slight bend in your route will allow you to avoid over flying high peaks, desolate areas or large bodies of water.
3. The Aeronautical Information Manual
--Answers most airspace questions
4. NOTAMS
--Ask the FSS for all NOTAMS for the route you are taking. This applies to information for all NAVAIDS and
airports.
5. Weather
--What you are looking for is any information that will affect the go/no go decision
6. Navigation Log
--Computed from true course to magnetic course to compass course with wind correction angle to get true
heading to magnetic heading to compass heading for each straight leg of the route.
--get all NOTAMS related to navaids for the route. Put radar frequencies on chart of each area.
6.5 Avionics
--Confirm latest VOR check
--FCC station license
--Com frequencies in and squelch checked
--Navigational frequencies in
--ELT check within five after the hour
7. Flight Plan
--Filing is not required by FAR but it is both a good operating practice and to be expected on a PP checkride.
Along with filing you should know the proper radio procedures for contacting an FSS. how to open, extend,
make a position report, and all the methods to close a flight plan. The FSS often has difficulty handling a
DUATS flight plan. An FSS may have up to twelve different frequencies so you must know how to get the
proper frequency from a sectional. On occasion the transmitter frequency (122.1) will be different from the
VOR receiver frequency.
8. Aircraft Manual or Pilot's Operating Handbook
--Here you will find the operating limitations, performance capabilities, normal and emergency procedures and many other performance suggestions. Considerable testing has been used to develop the takeoff, landing, distance, fuel consumption and weight/balance charts that insure safe operation. Knowing how to use these charts and V numbers is an integral part of flight planning.
--Know your aircraft performance figures for the planned route.
--Plan into every stop and departure for delays.
--Review the airworthiness requirements as they apply to the route and time of the flight.
9. Takeoff Planning
--The takeoff is the second most dangerous single phase of flying. The hazards of the takeoff extend from the
inability or failure of the aircraft to perform, the deficiencies of the airport, the obstructions beyond the runway
and the deficiencies of lighting or navaids used leaving the airport.
9.1Gross Weight
--The takeoff distance and climb capability is based on data from the POH. Every increase in weight makes the
takeoff longer and the climb rate lower. Takeoff distance varies with the square of the weight. Gross weight
is defined as the empty weight of the aircraft plus its useful load.
--Gross weight directly affects stall speed and takeoff velocity
--A 10 percent increase in takeoff weight gives:
--A 5 percent increase in the speed needed for liftoff
--A 9 percent decrease in acceleration capability
--A 21 percent increase in required liftoff distance
--Any weight above maximum allowed gross weight makes the aircraft unairworthy
--A pilot who ignores or is ignorant of his takeoff weight is negligent.

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