Flight Planning for pilots
Planning a flight before it starts: fuel planning and reserves, the operational and ATC flight plans, routes and alternates, and the weather and NOTAM briefing, from EASA ATPL subject 033.
CPL · IR · ATPL
Air Traffic Flow Management
How demand is balanced against ATC capacity in Europe and the US, the Network Manager, ATC slots, ground stops, ground delay programs, EDCTs, severe weather plans and preferred routes.
CPL · IR · ATPL
Alternate Aerodromes
Selecting takeoff, en-route and destination alternates, the adequate and suitable aerodrome concepts, planning minima and the FAA 1-2-3 rule and alternate minimums.
PPL · CPL · IR · ATPL
ATC Flight Plan
When an ATS flight plan is required, the types of flight plan, how to fill in the ICAO form item by item, and how plans are filed, processed and closed.
PPL · CPL · ATPL
Climb and Descent Planning
Using CAP 697 reference-aircraft data to find time, fuel and distance for the climb and descent, and locating the top of climb, top of descent and end of descent.
CPL · ATPL
Cost Index and Cruise Economics
How operators trade fuel against time using cost index, ECON, long range and maximum range cruise, specific range, optimum altitude, step climbs and fuel tankering.
CPL · ATPL
EU Fuel Schemes: Basic, Variations and Individual
The fuel/energy scheme of EU Air OPS since October 2022 (CAT.OP.MPA.180 to 185): the basic scheme, approved variations, individual schemes, fuel ERA and isolated aerodromes.
PPL · CPL · IR
Fuel and Energy Planning for General Aviation (Part-NCO)
The fuel/energy rules for non-commercial flights in EU general aviation: planning, final reserves for VFR and IFR, in-flight checks and the 2022 changes to Part-NCO.
PPL · CPL · ATPL
Fuel Planning and Fuel Reserves
How the pre-flight fuel figure is built up from taxi, trip, contingency, alternate, final reserve, additional and extra fuel under the EASA fuel scheme, with the decision point and isolated aerodrome procedures, fuel emergencies and the FAA reserve rules.
PPL · CPL · IR · ATPL
In-Flight Fuel Management
Monitoring fuel on board and endurance in flight, fuel checks and consumption monitoring, bingo fuel and diversion decisions, and the MINIMUM FUEL and MAYDAY FUEL declarations.
PPL · CPL · ATPL
Operational Flight Plan
The operator's flight plan and navigation log, computer flight plans, company routes, time estimates, terrain escape planning and the dispatch release.
PPL · CPL
VFR Cross-Country Flight Planning
Planning a VFR cross-country flight step by step: route and checkpoints, airspace and NOTAMs, weather, the navigation log, fuel and mass and balance, and filing.
Test yourself on Flight Planning
The v1prep banks cover this topic in Flight Planning (033), with a worked explanation for every answer.
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