Flight Planning and Monitoring
Flight Planning and Monitoring
This domain covers building a legal VFR flight: route, weather, NOTAMs, fuel, alternates and in-flight monitoring. The exam tests whether your plan is complete before departure and whether you revise it as conditions change.
Core rules
- Sources: CFS for aerodrome and frequency data, METAR/TAF and GFAs for weather, NOTAMs for temporary restrictions, and the applicable charts for airspace and terrain.
- Fuel: calculate trip fuel, taxi fuel, and the legal VFR reserve - commonly 30 minutes by day and 45 minutes at night in Canada. Add contingency for forecast headwinds and delays.
- Flight plan or itinerary: file a flight plan or itinerary, note the SAR time, and open/close it correctly. A flight plan is not automatically activated by take-off.
- Monitoring: compare actual ground speed and fuel burn with the plan at each waypoint; revise ETA and diversion options early.
- Alternates: identify a suitable alternate before weather deteriorates, not after fuel becomes critical.
Worked example
A 2.2-hour trip at 9 US gal/h uses 19.8 gal. A 30-minute day VFR reserve at the same burn is 4.5 gal, and taxi/run-up allowance is 1.5 gal. Required fuel = 19.8 + 4.5 + 1.5 = 25.8 gal. If usable fuel is 38 gal, the plan is legal with 12.2 gal margin - but a 15 kt headwind may erase that margin, so recalculate with the forecast wind.
Traps that cost marks
Counting reserve fuel as usable trip fuel, forgetting taxi fuel, and assuming a filed flight plan starts the SAR clock automatically are common. Also check that the planned altitude is compatible with airspace and terrain.