VFR Cross-Country Flight Planning

A VFR cross-country flight takes an airplane away from the home circuit to another aerodrome, navigating by visual reference to the ground along a route planned in advance. Part-FCL counts as cross-country any flight from a point of departure to a point of arrival along a pre-planned route using standard navigation procedures; the FAA definition in 14 CFR 61.1 also requires a landing away from the departure point. Part-FCL builds the private license around one long solo trip: under FCL.210.A at least 270 km (150 NM) with full-stop landings at two aerodromes other than the departure aerodrome. The FAA private pilot certificate has its own solo cross-country requirement, with its own distance and landing figures, in 14 CFR 61.109.

Most of the work happens on the ground. Annex 2 and SERA require the pilot-in-command, before a flight away from the vicinity of an aerodrome, to study the current weather reports and forecasts, the fuel requirements and an alternative course of action. The FAA's 14 CFR 91.103 adds known traffic delays and, for every flight, the runway lengths and the takeoff and landing distances. The in-flight technique is covered in dead reckoning and visual navigation.

Choosing the route and checkpoints

The FAA's handbook puts a first look at the weather before anything else, since it decides whether and by which route to go. The course line is then drawn on a current chart, direct or through turning points that keep clear of controlled airspace, high ground, open water or restricted areas. Each leg's true course is measured at a meridian near its midpoint, because the meridians converge toward the poles.

Checkpoints are picked along each leg. A good one is distinctive, close to the track, large enough to be seen in time and impossible to confuse with anything nearby: a lake, a town of unusual shape, a major road junction, an aerodrome, a tall mast. On a US sectional, towns drawn as yellow areas make useful checkpoints, while a small circle may be only a handful of houses. Long features such as highways, rivers and railways on either side of the course serve as brackets that keep the airplane from drifting too far, and no single checkpoint is relied on alone.

The pilot then notes the highest terrain and the tallest obstacles near each leg; the FAA warns that television masts can rise more than 1,500 ft above the surrounding ground. A common training method gives each leg a safety altitude, the minimum safe altitude for that leg: the highest obstacle within 5 NM either side of track, plus 1,000 ft, rounded up to the next 100 ft. A mast at 1,483 ft gives 2,500 ft. The chart's maximum elevation figures are not safe altitudes, and a QNH falling along the route or air colder than standard puts the airplane lower than indicated (see minimum safe altitudes).

The legal floors still apply. SERA.5005(f) keeps VFR flights at least 1,000 ft above the highest obstacle within 600 m over congested areas, and 500 ft above the ground or water, or the highest obstacle within 150 m, elsewhere. The FAA's 14 CFR 91.119 differs in detail: 1,000 ft above the highest obstacle within 2,000 ft over congested areas, and 500 ft above the surface elsewhere, except over open water or sparsely populated areas, where the airplane must stay 500 ft from any person, vessel, vehicle or structure. More than 3,000 ft above the surface the cruising level follows the semicircular rule, by magnetic track under SERA and magnetic course under 14 CFR 91.159: odd thousands plus 500 ft from 000° to 179°, even thousands plus 500 ft from 180° to 359° (see cruising levels and minimum heights).

Finally, the daylight. Under SERA, night begins at the end of evening civil twilight, tabulated in AIP GEN 2.7. A late arrival brings the night rules with it: under EASA rules a night rating, and under both EASA and FAA rules a 45-minute fuel reserve instead of 30.

Airspace, NOTAMs and restrictions

Every block of airspace along the route is checked, laterally and vertically; controlled airspace needs the clearance or radio contact its class demands (see airspace classification). Under SERA.6005 a radio mandatory zone (RMZ) requires an initial call and a continuous listening watch, and a transponder mandatory zone (TMZ) a transponder with Mode A and C or Mode S; neither requires a clearance. Restricted, danger and prohibited areas are checked for their limits and activity times; a limit marked ASFC is a height above the surface, not an altitude (see special use airspace).

Temporary changes come by NOTAM. A crane near the destination's approach or a parachute zone activated for the day appears in the NOTAMs for the route and aerodromes, collected in a pre-flight information bulletin; US temporary flight restrictions are issued the same way. FAA sectionals are revised every 56 days, and Part-NCO (NCO.GEN.135) requires current charts for the route and reasonable diversions on board.

Weather assessment

The METAR and TAF cover the departure, destination and alternates; their winds are in degrees true, whereas the ATIS and tower give magnetic winds for use with the runway.

En route, European low-level flying uses the low-level significant weather chart, with heights above mean sea level, and its text counterpart the GAMET, valid for six hours. AIRMET covers hazards below FL100, or FL150 in mountainous areas, that do not warrant a SIGMET, such as moderate icing or turbulence and widespread low cloud or poor visibility (see SIGMET, AIRMET and weather warnings). In the United States, a Flight Service standard briefing opens with adverse conditions and, where warranted, a "VFR flight not recommended" statement.

The VMC minima of each airspace class are only a floor (see VFR, IFR and meteorological conditions). Low stratus on high ground is the classic trap: a cloud base of 800 ft above sea level over hills rising to 1,500 ft closes the route over the tops. Personal minima, set on the ground for visibility, cloud base and wind, turn a deteriorating forecast into a decision.

The navigation log

The navigation log, or PLOG, turns the chart work into numbers, one line per leg. The FAA's handbook sets out the chain: true course, corrected for the wind (wind correction angle), gives true heading; corrected for variation, magnetic heading; corrected for deviation, compass heading. West variation and deviation are added going from true to magnetic and from magnetic to compass, east subtracted. Upper winds are forecast in degrees true, so the triangle of velocities is solved in true and converted at the end (see triangle of velocities).

The flight manual's indicated airspeed is corrected for position and instrument error to calibrated airspeed, then converted to true airspeed on the flight computer from the pressure altitude and outside air temperature. A rough check adds 2 percent per 1,000 ft: 100 kt calibrated at 7,000 ft is about 114 kt true.

The wind from the left front needs 8° of left correction and costs 15 kt; at 30 liters per hour the 24-minute leg uses 12 liters. The magnetic track is 097°, so more than 3,000 ft above the surface the airplane would cruise at 3,500 or 5,500 ft. A working log adds columns for the actual times over the checkpoints.

In flight, if the first checkpoint, 15 NM along a 60 NM leg planned at 90 kt, comes up after 12 minutes, the groundspeed is 75 kt and the remaining 45 NM will take 36 minutes; ETAs and fuel are revised from timings, not from the plan. A GNSS receiver is a cross-check, not a substitute for the log.

Fuel planning and reserves

Only usable fuel counts. The plan adds taxi fuel, trip fuel for the climb, cruise and descent, a contingency chosen by the pilot, and the final reserve, which should still be in the tanks after landing. Since 30 October 2022, AMC1 NCO.OP.125(b) gives these figures for private airplane flights in Europe, counted, except for the local flight, at holding speed at 1,500 ft above the destination:

The FAA's 14 CFR 91.151 requires enough fuel to reach the first point of intended landing and then fly 30 minutes by day or 45 minutes at night, at normal cruising speed. Exam options quoting the pre-2022 Part-NCO basis, minutes "at normal cruising altitude", describe a withdrawn rule. A day flight of 180 NM at a groundspeed of 90 kt and 32 liters per hour needs 64 liters of trip fuel and, counting the reserve at the same fuel flow, 16 liters of reserve: 80 liters before taxi and climb fuel. For the loading, avgas weighs about 0.72 kg per liter, or 6 lb per US gallon in FAA weight and balance (see fuel and energy planning for general aviation).

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Mass, balance and performance

The pilot, passengers, baggage and fuel must keep the airplane within its maximum takeoff mass and CG envelope, and the CG must stay inside the envelope as fuel burns, so the landing condition is checked as well as the takeoff (see light aircraft weight and balance).

Takeoff and landing distances are taken from the charts for the actual mass, elevation, temperature, wind, surface and slope, and compared with the distances available at each aerodrome; a high density altitude lengthens both and weakens the climb. The factors of commercial Class B planning, such as 1.25 on the takeoff distance and landing within 70 percent of the distance available, are not mandatory for private flights, but their reasons apply to every short or soft strip (see light aircraft performance charts).

Flight plans and alerting

Under SERA.4001 an ATS flight plan is required for a flight that will receive an air traffic control service, for a flight across an international border unless the States concerned prescribe otherwise, for a night flight leaving the vicinity of an aerodrome, and wherever the authority requires one. When an air traffic control service will be provided, it is filed at least 60 minutes before departure; a plan filed in the air must arrive at least 10 minutes before the point of entry into a control or advisory area. Item 15 gives the speed and level, for example N0100 and A055, or VFR as the level, and Item 19 the endurance and persons on board for search and rescue (see ATC flight plan).

A plan covering the whole flight is closed with an arrival report (SERA.4020), made by the quickest means to the nearest ATS unit if the destination has none. Otherwise the alerting service assumes the aircraft is in trouble: the uncertainty phase (INCERFA) begins when it fails to arrive within 30 minutes of its last notified ETA, and can lead to the alert and distress phases (see alerting service and search and rescue).

In the United States the VFR flight plan is optional, a search and rescue tool. Flight Service holds a filed plan for 1 hour after the proposed departure time and then cancels it unless the pilot has reported the departure or a new time. The pilot activates it after takeoff and closes it after landing; a tower does not close it. If it is not closed within 30 minutes of the ETA, Flight Service starts an information request (INREQ), then an alert notice (ALNOT).

Diversion planning

A diversion is planned before departure: aerodromes along the route that could take the airplane if the weather closes in, the engine gives trouble or the daylight runs out, and the personal minima that will trigger the decision. Deciding in advance matters because plan continuation bias grows as the destination nears.

Small errors are corrected with the 1-in-60 rule: 1 NM off track after 60 NM flown is about 1° of track error. On a 90 NM leg, a pinpoint 4 NM right of track after 30 NM gives a track error of 8°, and closing on the destination over the remaining 60 NM needs another 4°, so the heading is altered 12° to the left.

For a real diversion the pilot measures or estimates the new track and distance on the chart, turns onto the new heading promptly, then works out the time and checks the fuel. A 36 NM diversion at 90 kt takes 24 minutes, 12 liters at 30 liters per hour; with a 30-minute reserve of 15 liters, at least 27 liters must be on board at the turn. ATS is told and an open flight plan amended, so that the alerting service is not started for the wrong aerodrome. If the position itself becomes doubtful, the drill is to hold the heading, note the time, work out a dead-reckoning position and ask for help early (see managing non-normal situations and diversion).

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.