Flight Planning
What the exam tests
Flight planning questions test your ability to build an operational flight plan (OFP) and ATS flight plan that are legal, safe, and fuel-efficient. You must integrate route, altitude, weather, NOTAM, aircraft performance, payload, alternates, and fuel into a release the PIC can accept.
Core concepts
- The OFP normally shows route, waypoints, tracks, distances, planned altitudes, winds, temperatures, estimated times, fuel by sector, alternates, and minima.
- The ATS flight plan uses standard ICAO fields: aircraft identification, type, wake category, equipment, departure and destination, route, levels, endurance, persons on board, and emergency equipment.
- Alternate selection depends on weather, runway serviceability, approach availability, fuel, and the operator's approved minima.
- NOTAMs can close runways, remove navigation aids, change declared distances, or activate restricted areas; they must be reviewed before release.
Worked example
A Manila-to-Cebu flight is planned at FL350. Destination TAF shows TEMPO TSRA and a CB near the field; the planned alternate is Iloilo, which is forecast VMC. The dispatcher checks that Iloilo has an authorized approach, the aircraft has the required navigation capability, and fuel covers destination, missed approach, alternate, and final reserve. If the destination weather later falls below the alternate-planning minima, the release must be amended or the flight held.
Traps
Planning to destination minima rather than alternate minima; ignoring TEMPO or BECMG timing; using a route not in the OpSpecs; forgetting the ATS flight-plan endurance must cover the whole flight; and treating a filed flight plan as an ATC clearance. A filed plan is a request, not an authorization.