1 / 19

Flight Planning

Flight Planning. Plan the flight, fly the plan. Technique. 1. Plot Course a. Get true course b. Select checkpoints (9 – 22nm) c. Start nav log 2- Weather briefing a. Go/no-go decision b. Adjust route if necessary c. Select altitude 3- Performance Calculations a. Wt/Bal

sarah-todd
Download Presentation

Flight Planning

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Flight Planning Plan the flight, fly the plan

  2. Technique 1. Plot Course a. Get true course b. Select checkpoints (9 – 22nm) c. Start nav log 2- Weather briefing a. Go/no-go decision b. Adjust route if necessary c. Select altitude 3- Performance Calculations a. Wt/Bal b. Takeoff/ldg dist c. Time/fuel/dist to climb d. Time/fuel in cruise e. Complete nav log 4- File if desired and execute

  3. Plot Course • Using your plotter, draw a line from center of departure point to center of destination airport • Look for hazards along your route • Special Use Airspace • Terrain • Large bodies of water • Adjust course if necessary • Find your true course • Lay plotter down with top edge along route • Place center on a line of longitude • Read true course on East or West scale • Mark mileage in 5 or 10 mile intervals on your route • Example: SBN to SMD (Smith Field in Fort Wayne)

  4. Checkpoint Selection • What makes a good checkpoint? • Precision • An intersection of two roads is more precise than the point where your course is supposed to intersect a road • Visibility • Radio towers make poor checkpoints because they are difficult to see from the air • Airports make great checkpoints because they are very easy to see from the air • Distinctiveness • Using a lake as a checkpoint when flying across New Mexico makes sense • Using a lake as a checkpoint when flying across east Texas increases your odds of mistakenly identifying your checkpoint

  5. Checkpoint Selection • Selecting the first checkpoint • Should be within 5-10 miles of departure point • Establishes your initial heading as correct • Additional checkpoints • Select additional checkpoints every 9 – 22 miles thereafter • Example: • I chose the following checkpoints: • Golden Dome / Basilica (initial point) • Bypass road south of Elkhart • Syracuse • Merriam

  6. Weather Briefing • Get a weather briefing from an official source • 1-800-WX-BRIEF • DUAT or DUATS • Make a go/no-go decision • “VFR flight not recommended” • Conditions beyond your ability • Winds • MVFR or IFR clouds and weather • Convective activity • Precipitation • Adjust route if necessary • Select altitude • Winds Aloft will inform this decision

  7. Performance Calculations • Weight and Balance • Weight information will be required for performance calculations • Example: Assume max gross weight • Takeoff / Landing distance • Ensure your aircraft is capable of making it out of your departure airport and in/out of your destination airport

  8. Performance Calculations • Time / Fuel / Distance to Climb • Cessna charts make this calculation very simple • Take value at your cruise altitude and subtract value from departure pressure altitude • Make approximations as appropriate • There is no need calculate to a level of precision beyond what is given in the chart • Therefore, find: • Time to the nearest minute • Fuel to the nearest tenth gallon • Distance to the nearest mile

  9. Performance Calculations • Time / Fuel / Distance to Climb Example • Climb from SBN (799 ft) to 4,500 ft • Weather: • SBN 07010G15 10SM CLR 13/M02 A2997 • Approximations • Difference between pressure alt. & true alt is 50 feet, negligible • Difference between SBN elevation and 1000 foot entries is negligible • Values for 4,500 feet (by interpolation) • Time: 7 min • Fuel: 1.7 (conservative estimates dictate rounding up) • Distance: 10 miles (only valid in zero wind) • Values for 1,000 feet • Time: 1 min • Fuel: 0.4 gal • Distance: 2 miles • Climb totals • Time: (7 – 1) = 6 minutes • Fuel (1.7 - .4 ) = 1.3 (+ 1.1 for tax & takeoff) = 2.4 gal • Wind is nonzero, so note avg climb speed: 76 knots

  10. Performance Calculations • Before we can complete nav log, we need to find our top of climb (TOC) & top of descent (TOD) points • Procedure • Use Winds Aloft to find groundspeed • Use time-to-climb to find distance • Example • Winds Aloft 3000 6000 FWA 0416 3615 • For climb, use winds at 3000 • Interpolate: winds at cruise altitude (4,500) are 020 at 16

  11. Performance Calculations • E6-B • Turn to wind side • Set wind direction (040) opposite true index • Mark wind velocity (16) up from grommet • Set true course (123) opposite true index • Slide the TAS arc (76) under the wind dot • Read ground speed under grommet (72) • Read wind correction angle at wind dot (12 deg left)

  12. Performance Calculations • Top of Climb point • Turn to computer side of E6-B • First question: How fast? • 72 (our calculated groundspeed for the climb) • Earlier, we computed the climb would take 6 minutes • Read distance (7.2) above minute (6) scale • For the mathematically astute, 6 minutes is 1/10 of an hour, so the TOC distance is a tenth of our groundspeed

  13. Performance Calculations • Top of Descent point • Figure a 500 foot per minute descent • From 4500 to 1800 (Traffic Pattern Altitude at SMD) is a 2700 foot descent, or 5.4 minutes • 130 knots is a good descent airspeed in the 172 • Use same winds (040 at 16) • Flip to wind side of E6-B • Wind dot is still valid; slide up to 130 knot TAS arc • Read groundspeed under grommet (127) • Read WCA under wind dot (7 deg left) • Flip to computer side of E6-B • How fast? • 127 knots • Read descent distance (11.5 miles) over descent time (5.4 minutes)

  14. Performance Calculations • Check cruise performance to find TAS and GPH en route • Plan on max continuous power setting (75% BHP) • Temperature is standard • 500 foot difference on performance chart is negligible • Use 4000 foot data • KTAS is 114 knots • GPH is 8.6

  15. Complete Nav Log • Measure distances between each checkpoint • Don’t forget to factor in your TOC and TOD points • Fill in each checkpoint and leg distance • Compute cruising groundspeed • Find cruising wind correction angle • Apply magnetic variation • Find ETE between checkpoints • Find fuel consumption between checkpoints

  16. Complete Nav Log • Example: Find cruising ground speed • (Previously interpolated) winds are 020 at 16 • Go to wind side of E6-B • Set wind direction (020) opposite true index • Mark wind velocity (16) up from grommet • Set true course (123) opposite true index • Slide TAS arc (114) under wind dot • Read groundspeed under grommet (116) • Read WCA under wind dot (8 deg left)

  17. Complete Nav Log • Apply WCA to True Course • -L, +R • Apply magnetic variation • A check of the sectional indicates one isogonic line along route of flight, +5 deg W • -E, +W (East is least, West is best) • Result is magnetic heading • This is as far as we can go until we look at the compass card in the aircraft

  18. Complete Nav Log • Example (cont) • Find ETE between checkpoints • Already computed ETE (6 min) and fuel consumption (2.4 gal) to TOC point • Fill values in on nav log • Flip to computer side of E6-B • How fast? 116 knots • Read ETE underneath distance • Round off to nearest minute • Find fuel consumption between checkpoints • E6-B • How fast? 8.6 GPH • Read fuel consumed over minutes scale • Round to nearest tenth gallon • Subtract en route fuel from total • Assume a full fuel load (53 gal)

  19. File Flight Plan

More Related