Flight Planning and Fuel
The Flight Planning and Fuel domain tests building a defensible fuel plan: trip fuel, reserves, alternate and contingency, with correct time, flow and density conversions. It is as much about showing your method as the final figure.
Core rules
- Build a fuel log: start/taxi, climb, cruise, descent/approach, alternate, final reserve, contingency, and unusable fuel.
- Time in cruise comes from distance and ground speed, not TAS. Fuel = flow × time.
- NZ CPL planning commonly uses fixed reserves of 30 min day VFR, 45 min night VFR and 45 min IFR, plus alternate fuel where required; always check the current CAR Part 91 rule for the operation.
- Contingency is normally a percentage of trip fuel, not of total fuel.
Worked example
Trip time 2.5 h at 40 L/h = 100 L. Taxi 5 L; alternate 20 L; 30 min reserve at 40 L/h = 20 L; contingency 5% of trip = 5 L. Total required = 100+5+20+20+5 = 150 L. At 0.72 kg/L this is 108 kg. The reserve is not available for extending the cruise; it is protected fuel.
Traps
- Using TAS to calculate time in a headwind or tailwind.
- Forgetting taxi, climb or unusable fuel.
- Calculating contingency on the total rather than on trip fuel.
- Mixing litres, kilograms and pounds; density changes with temperature.