CAA NZ ATPL Theory - Flight Planning study plan
CAA NZ ATPL Theory - Flight Planning · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Fuel planning and fuel management
Compute trip fuel, contingency fuel, alternate fuel, final reserve and taxi fuel for three worked scenarios using the CAA NZ 5% contingency rule and the 30-minute final reserve for turbine aircraft, showing every line of arithmetic.
Convert between kg, litres and US gallons for Jet A-1 and Avgas 100LL using standard densities, and state which density value you would defend in an operational briefing.
Build a personal one-page fuel policy summary that names each fuel component, its regulatory basis, and the in-flight decision point attached to it.
Explain in writing how fuel tankering decisions trade landing weight, take-off performance and cost, and list three cases where tankering is operationally unacceptable.
Your checkpoint
A completed fuel-plan worksheet for three routes (short domestic, medium domestic, trans-Tasman) with all components labelled, cross-checked against a second method, and signed off with a self-marked error list.
Mass and balance
Calculate aircraft empty mass, operating empty mass, zero-fuel mass, take-off mass and landing mass from a load sheet and identify which limit governs each phase.
Determine the centre of gravity position in %MAC from a given mass and moment table, and state whether it falls inside the certified forward and aft limits.
Reposition a load (move freight, reseat passengers, shift baggage) to bring an out-of-limit CG back inside the envelope, and show the moment change arithmetic.
Explain the difference between mass limits and structural limits, and list the operational consequences of flying at forward versus aft CG limits.
Your checkpoint
A fully worked load sheet with a hand-drawn CG envelope plot showing three load cases (one in limits, one forward of limit, one aft of limit) and the corrective action for each.
Take-off and landing performance
Extract and apply take-off distance available, take-off run available, clearway and stopway definitions to compute regulated take-off mass for a given runway and obstacle scenario.
Apply the take-off climb gradient requirements (first segment, second segment, final segment) and identify which segment most often limits mass on a contaminated runway.
Compute landing distance required with and without reverse thrust and show how a wet or contaminated runway changes the dispatch decision.
State the CAA NZ and ICAO definitions for dry, wet and contaminated runway and list the performance penalties each triggers.
Your checkpoint
A performance case study for one real NZ aerodrome: a table of maximum allowable take-off and landing masses across four conditions (dry, wet, contaminated, tailwind) with a one-paragraph dispatch recommendation.
En-route performance, cruise control and in-flight replanning
Construct a cruise control schedule showing long-range, maximum-endurance and high-speed cruise, and state the fuel and time trade-off between them for a fixed sector.
Compute specific range and specific fuel consumption from cruise data and identify the speed for maximum range at a given mass and level.
Explain step climb logic, including when a step climb saves fuel and when the climb cost exceeds the saving.
Draft an in-flight replanning decision tree covering diversion, drift-down, and continued flight to destination with reduced reserves.
Your checkpoint
A written cruise control and replanning brief (one to two pages) with a worked step-climb example and a decision tree you can defend in an oral assessment.
Flight planning fundamentals and regulatory requirements & Route planning and navigation data
List the regulatory documents that govern an NZ commercial flight plan and state what each one requires the operator to hold or file.
Read a low-level and high-level en-route chart and extract airway designators, minimum en-route altitudes, and reporting points for a chosen route.
Convert between true, magnetic and compass headings using variation and deviation, and state where each is used in flight planning.
Identify the navigation data sources (AIP NZ, NOTAM, ATS route structure) required to validate a route before filing.
Your checkpoint
A route validation pack for one domestic sector: chart extracts transcribed into a text table, a heading conversion table, and a NOTAM and AIP cross-check log.
Meteorology applied to flight planning
Decode a TAF and METAR and extract the wind, visibility, cloud and QNH values that feed take-off and alternate fuel calculations.
Select an alternate aerodrome using forecast weather, and state the operational and regulatory criteria that make an alternate acceptable or unacceptable.
Apply wind aloft data to compute headwind and tailwind components along a route and show how they change trip fuel.
Explain how temperature, pressure and QNH affect performance calculations and identify the three meteorological inputs that most often change a dispatch decision.
Your checkpoint
A weather-to-plan worksheet for one sector: decoded TAF and METAR, alternate selection with justification, wind component table, and a revised fuel figure reflecting forecast winds.
Flight documentation, operational flight plan and ATS flight plan
Complete an operational flight plan for one sector, including all required fields, and cross-check it against the load sheet and fuel plan from earlier weeks.
Draft an ATS flight plan with correct item content, including aircraft identification, route, levels, and endurance, and state which items change on amendment.
List the documents that must be carried or accessible on a commercial flight and explain the retention requirements for the operational flight plan.
Identify the three most common filing errors in ATS flight plans and describe how each is detected and corrected before departure.
Your checkpoint
A complete, self-consistent flight documentation set for one sector: operational flight plan, ATS flight plan, load sheet and fuel plan, all cross-referenced and error-checked.
Fuel planning and fuel management & Mass and balance & Take-off and landing performance & En-route performance, cruise control and in-flight replanning
Re-solve one full integrated planning scenario from blank paper, covering fuel, mass and balance, take-off and landing performance, and en-route replanning, within a 90-minute time limit.
Review every error from weeks 1 to 7 and rewrite the underlying rule or formula in your own words.
Explain aloud, without notes, the relationship between fuel policy, mass limits and performance limits, and where they conflict.
Complete a timed set of calculation drills across all four heavy domains and record your accuracy and time per question.
Your checkpoint
A marked mock examination paper (integrated scenario plus calculation drills) with a written error log and a one-page revision sheet of the rules you got wrong.
Milestones
Week 2: You can complete a load sheet and CG check from blank paper in under 30 minutes with no reference to worked examples, and correctly identify the governing limit in each case.
Week 4: You can produce a fuel plan and a cruise control brief for an unseen sector, with all components labelled and arithmetically self-consistent, scoring at least 80% on a self-marked calculation set.
Week 6: You can take a raw TAF, METAR and wind forecast and convert them into a revised fuel and alternate decision without prompting, and justify each choice in writing.
Week 8: You complete the integrated mock scenario within 90 minutes, score at least 75% overall, and have no unresolved errors in fuel, mass and balance, or performance calculations.