Flight Planning and Monitoring
Flight Planning and Monitoring tests the practical paperwork and in-flight discipline of a CPL flight: preparing an ATC flight plan and a navigation log, calculating ETA and fuel, choosing alternates, and revising the plan when actual wind or fuel burn differs.
Flight plan and log
An ATC flight plan normally includes aircraft identification, type and wake category, equipment, departure and destination, route, cruising level and speed, total EET, alternate aerodrome, fuel endurance and persons on board. The navigation log (PLOG) converts each leg into heading, TAS, wind, GS, distance, time and fuel. EET is normally stated in UTC.
Worked example
A 180 NM leg with TAS 120 kt and a 20 kt headwind gives GS 100 kt. Time = 180 ÷ 100 = 1.8 h = 1 h 48 min. At 30 L/h, trip fuel = 54 L. After 1 h the aircraft has covered only 70 NM, implying a ground speed of 70 kt. The remaining 110 NM will take 110 ÷ 70 = 1.57 h ≈ 1 h 34 min. The revised total time is 2 h 34 min, not the planned 1 h 48 min. Compare the revised fuel at destination with the alternate and final reserve before continuing.
Traps
Using TAS instead of GS for time; entering local time in the flight plan; forgetting that fuel endurance includes reserves; planning to a destination without a usable alternate when one is required; and not updating the ETA after a wind change. Monitoring means comparing actual against planned at each waypoint, not simply filling in the log after landing.