Giving Wings to your Dreams since 1955
Resources / Flight Planning
Plan and Conduct a Flight (high points)
Define the purpose of your flight. The preparations are slightly differnet for each. However core flight preparation is generally identical. Examples are:
- Training for new skills.
- Proficiency in existing skills.
- Pleasure and enjoyment, generally local flights.
- Travel, generally more than 100 nm to destination with overnight or multi-day considerations.
Scan the local and distant public weather forecast.
Scan the local and distant aeronautical weather. Enable the MRMS Weather Overlay in [Links]. Put in a (model) flight plan and take a look at preliminary numbers and weather behavior.
Study the upper air winds and a predicted weather progression in different modes.
Define the purpose of the flight, destination, loading, and equipment requirements. Reserve a suitable aircraft for which you are current.
Obtain an official [recorded] weather briefing, TFR alerts, and file an [official] flight Plan.
Please note, as of 26-Aug-2019 the FAA requires all flight plans to be filed in ICAO format. There are some items in the new form that are unfamiliar. Download the FAA's icao_flight_plan_filing.pdf to understand these new form fields.
Examples of slight differences Between Domestic and ICAO data fields:
"Flight Type" = "G" for general aviation.
"Crusing Speed" = "N0135" for 135 Nautical miles per hour.
"Level"= "A045" for an Altitude of 4500 MSL.
Also, another well written explanation for the ICAO format is provided by Skybrary.aero Flight_Plan_Completion
If you want an ICAO filing Tip Card
Review your Aircraft Rental Agreement with CEFS. That document is populated with expectations which will guide you to make correct decisions to avoid progressing into situations that lead to unnecessary risk to yourself, passengers, the public and CEFS property.
Finish your flight planning and conduct the sortie. As you can see, the flight is ~70% [your planning] and the remainder about [your performance].
As you have noticed, this section is only intended to cover "high points" of planning a sortie.
Resources / GPS Training Simulator(s) for PC
We encourage all customers to be familiar with all basic functions of our typical GPS units (Garmin 530, 430, 650) before utilizing these in flight. The links below provide these executables free of charge, courtsey of Garmin.
Simulators for Garmin 430W, 530W and similar for PC (.exe)
Resources / Federal
Resources / State of Virginia
Resources / Commercial
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