VFR cross-country decisions

The flight and the limits of the exercise

You are planning a daytime VFR trip from Airport A to Airport B with one passenger. Airport C is a possible diversion. These names, the weather developments, and all numerical inputs below are fictional. No current chart, airport, aircraft, or operational clearance is represented.

The exercise uses a 90 NM cruise segment, an initial planned groundspeed of 90 kt, a constant teaching fuel flow of 8 U.S. gallons/hour, and 22 gallons usable fuel before start. A separate assumed 2-gallon allowance covers start, taxi, takeoff, climb, and descent. This simplified allowance is not an aircraft performance model. Actual phase-specific AFM/POH data, loading, verified usable fuel, airport information, and current conditions must replace these assumptions for a real flight.

Use paper or your own notes to explain each decision before reading the worked reasoning. You may use the E6B for arithmetic. Do not file an actual flight plan for these fictional airports. Lesson completion records study; flight skills and aircraft-specific procedures require instructor-led practice.

Decision point: Which information can you calculate here, and which information remains missing for an actual go decision?

14 CFR §91.103: actual preflight information · Private Pilot Airplane ACS: I.D cross-country planning

Before accepting the airplane

Start with your qualifications, applicable endorsements, medical basis, fitness, passenger currency, and proficiency for the proposed flight. The passenger has a firm arrival preference; make clear that delay, cancellation, or a different destination are available decisions. Review currency versus proficiency and fitness to fly.

Use the airplane's actual documents and records to check its applicable limitations, inspection status, equipment, and known discrepancies. Follow its preflight checklist. Identify the normal indications and the installed systems rather than borrowing procedures from a different trainer.

A last-minute bag changes the loading. Recalculate both weight and CG with current aircraft-specific data; check restraint and compartment limits as well as performance. An acceptable loading number does not settle runway or climb suitability. The exercise supplies no real loading envelope or takeoff distance.

Decision point: An equipment defect is still unexplained and the bag has not been included in the loading. Does the departure schedule justify treating either check as complete?

Worked reasoning: Pause the departure decision. Resolve the defect through the applicable process and qualified help, complete the revised loading, and verify the airplane is in safe-flight condition. A recent rental flight or a passenger's deadline supplies neither missing evidence.

14 CFR §91.7: safe-flight condition · 14 CFR §91.9: applicable limitations · 14 CFR §91.213: equipment defects · AIM 8-1-1: pilot fitness

A route, a fuel plan, and an exit

For an actual route, use current charts, airport diagrams, Chart Supplement entries, NOTAMs, and weather. Trace climb, cruise, descent, airspace, terrain, and obstacles. Verify runway availability and aircraft performance at both the destination and possible diversions. Choose recognizable checkpoints and a plan that remains workable if a requested ATC service or shortcut is unavailable.

In this exercise, briefing shows favorable departure conditions but a possible deterioration near the destination later. Before leaving, decide what change would make you delay or divert. A useful trigger names the condition and the action: for example, observed visibility reaching your personal limit means use a suitable clear landing option before the route closes. The exact limits must fit the pilot, airplane, terrain, and current weather; this lesson supplies no universal ceiling or visibility target.

The simplified initial cruise is 90 ÷ 90 = 1 hour, using 8 gallons. Add the assumed 2-gallon phase allowance and, for this daytime airplane example, 4 gallons for 30 minutes at the assumed normal-cruise flow. The simplified total is 14 gallons, leaving 8 gallons beyond that plan from the 22 aboard. Select extra margin for uncertainty rather than treating the minimum as the goal. Review the full fuel lesson for the night value and qualifications.

Decision point: Does that fuel margin make a worsening weather route acceptable?

Worked reasoning: No. Fuel, weather, terrain, runway suitability, equipment, and pilot readiness are separate checks. Enough fuel cannot provide visibility or terrain clearance. The initial calculation remains an exercise estimate until actual aircraft and phase-specific information supports it.

14 CFR §91.103: route, airport, weather, and performance preparation · 14 CFR §91.151(a): airplane fuel, including forecast conditions and reserve · FAA AC 91-92: weather briefing and alternatives

Departure is another check

For the hypothetical departure, assume all pilot, aircraft, performance, and weather questions have now been resolved using suitable evidence. Prepare the radios, current airport diagram, passenger briefing, and expected taxi route while stopped. Refresh changed weather and airport information before committing to takeoff.

Airport A has an operating tower for this exercise. Your assigned taxi route approaches an intervening runway. You have no explicit clearance to cross it. Remain behind its holding position and clarify the instruction; an assigned departure runway or another airplane moving ahead does not authorize your crossing. Once at the departure runway, obtain the required takeoff clearance and use the airplane's before-takeoff procedure.

If you use a VFR flight plan, know the supported activation, update, and closure method before leaving. Confirm activation using actual departure information; filing alone is not activation or an ATC clearance. Put chart programming and arithmetic aside during high-workload flight phases and keep the outside scan active.

Decision point: What changes in your plan if you cannot obtain a desired airspace clearance or service?

Worked reasoning: Use a route that satisfies the entry requirements and remains safe in visual conditions. A squawk code or radar-contact call does not by itself authorize Class B entry. Tell ATC what you need or cannot accept, and preserve your outside-airspace option.

AIM 4-3-18: taxi and runway crossing · AIM 3-2-1 and 3-2-3: airspace entry responsibilities · AIM 5-1: VFR flight-plan procedures

Use the checkpoint to update the plan

You positively identify the first checkpoint 30 NM along the cruise segment after 24 minutes. The EFB still shows the original estimate. Fly and scan first; when workload permits, compare chart position, actual time, and navigation indications.

Observed groundspeed = 30 ÷ (24/60) = 75 kt. If that groundspeed continues, the remaining 60 NM takes 48 minutes and uses 6.4 gallons at the assumed 8 gallons/hour. The original remaining estimate was 40 minutes and about 5.3 gallons. Update ETA and fuel rather than keeping the old log because it looks complete.

For the arithmetic alone, assume 16.8 gallons of verified usable fuel remain at this checkpoint. Continuing the 60 NM at the observed speed would leave about 10.4 gallons before any additional allowance or delay not represented in the exercise. That figure does not prove the destination remains suitable. Real fuel estimates need the aircraft's approved method, actual consumption, remaining flight phases, and an uncertainty allowance.

Decision point: What else must you recheck after a lower-than-planned groundspeed?

Worked reasoning: Recheck the arrival time against the weather trend, daylight, airport status, fuel margin, and diversion choices. Groundspeed can change again. A revised number is useful only if it informs the next decision.

Private Pilot Airplane ACS: I.D and VI.A planning and progress checks · 14 CFR §91.151(a): wind and forecast weather in predeparture fuel planning

The weather trigger is reached

Clouds ahead lower and visibility worsens near rising terrain. The route reaches the weather trigger you established before departure. Airport C remains reachable through clear conditions and has been identified as a suitable possible landing option. Your passenger says Airport B is close and suggests continuing lower.

Decision point: Explain the decision before reading on. What will you do now, what will you verify, and who needs to know?

Worked reasoning: Maintain control and use the clear diversion option while it remains available. Do not descend into a narrowing corridor simply to preserve the original destination. Recheck C's weather, runway and wind, current operating status, terrain and airspace, aircraft landing performance, and the fuel needed to reach it. A shorter distance by itself is not a suitability check.

For a separate arithmetic comparison, suppose the verified diversion estimate is 20 minutes at the same assumed 8 gallons/hour. It uses about 2.7 gallons; from 16.8 usable it leaves about 14.1 gallons, before additional allowance not represented here. The stronger reason to divert is the available clear, suitable landing option, rather than waiting for fuel to become an emergency.

Communicate your changed destination and assistance needs to the appropriate service. Update an active VFR flight plan through Flight Service or the provider's supported method. If outside visual references are inadvertently lost, use your training and the aircraft's procedures to maintain control and seek prompt emergency assistance; an installed attitude display does not make an unqualified VFR pilot ready to continue in cloud. Discuss that contingency with an instructor before flight.

FAA AC 91-92: evaluating weather and alternatives · AIM 8-1-5: disorientation and reliable references · AIM 5-1: flight-plan updates and closure

Brief the changed arrival

Before descending toward Airport C, prepare its current airport information, runway suitability, weather and wind, frequencies, pattern requirements, and escape options. If it has an operating tower, obtain the required communications and clearances. If it does not, use its published traffic-advisory procedure, listen, and keep scanning; a self-announcement neither reserves the runway nor proves it empty.

Use the airplane's checklist and approved speeds and configuration. Avoid heads-down route changes while maneuvering near traffic. If the approach cannot be continued safely, go around using the aircraft's procedures and communicate as appropriate. Review turn coordination and the overshot-final risk; do not force the airplane toward the runway with inside rudder and back pressure.

Decision point: The first approach is poorly aligned. Does the weather diversion make completing this particular approach mandatory?

Worked reasoning: No. A sound diversion decision still needs a sound arrival. Preserve the go-around option and reassess the runway, traffic, weather, fuel, and next landing plan.

AIM 4-3: airport operating procedures · FAA AC 61-67C: stall/spin risks while maneuvering · FAA Maneuvering Flight: priorities, briefings, and distractions

Close the plan and review the decisions

After landing, keep attention on clearing the runway and taxiing safely. Complete the appropriate after-landing, shutdown, and securing procedures for the aircraft. Report discrepancies using the operator's process so the next pilot is informed.

Ensure an active VFR flight plan is closed through Flight Service or the supported provider method and verify closure. A tower landing clearance or a stopped engine does not automatically close it. Update anyone waiting for your arrival after the immediate aircraft and flight-plan tasks are complete.

Compare planned and actual checkpoint times, weather, fuel estimates, workload, and landing choices. Identify the first sign that the original plan needed revision. Record what you would change in the briefing, margin, or diversion trigger next time. Separate decision quality from the outcome: reaching Airport B after pressing through a closing route would not validate the choice.

Decision point: What made landing at Airport C a successful flight decision, and what still needs instructor practice?

Worked reasoning: You used an available suitable option when the predetermined trigger was reached, revised the plan, and completed a safe arrival. Discuss the timing and execution with an instructor using a current local route and actual aircraft data. Paper decisions and a knowledge check cannot establish flight proficiency.

AIM 5-1-14: VFR flight-plan closure responsibility · Private Pilot Airplane ACS: XII.A postflight and study versus demonstrated skill

FLIGHT SCENARIO

What would change your plan?

Continue studying

Connect this lesson with related concepts:

• Prepare a cross-country route and fuel plan
• Make VFR weather decisions