General Navigation and Flight Planning
What is examined
General navigation and flight planning tests your ability to turn a route into headings, times and fuel. Expect Earth geometry, magnetic variation and deviation, the wind triangle, chart work, MTOW/performance limits, alternate and contingency fuel, and a completed navigation log.
Core rules
- Track is the intended path over the ground; heading is where the aircraft points. Drift is the angle between them.
- True to magnetic: variation east, magnetic least; variation west, magnetic best. Deviation is the aircraft-specific error; compass heading = magnetic heading ± deviation.
- Wind triangle: wind vector plus true airspeed vector gives ground speed and drift. Crab into the wind.
- Flight planning must respect MTOW, MLW, MZFW, runway/take-off performance, terrain, airspace and reserve fuel.
- PLOG discipline: fix ETAs, fuel at each waypoint, and a go/no-go point.
Worked example
Track 090°T, TAS 180 kt, wind 360°/30 kt. The wind is from the left, perpendicular to track. Crab angle = arcsin(30/180) = 9.6°, so true heading = 080°T (steer left into wind). Ground speed = √(180² − 30²) = 177.5 kt. With 2°E variation, magnetic heading = 080 − 2 = 078°M. If the leg is 120 NM, time = 120/177.5 = 40.6 min. The calculation shows why heading is not simply track minus wind direction.
Traps
Adding east variation instead of subtracting it; using TAS as ground speed; ignoring deviation; planning fuel to destination without alternate/contingency; mixing magnetic track with true heading on a PLOG.