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VFR REGULATIONS 02 / LEARN · EXPLORE · CHECK

Before you fly

Know the flight before you start it.

Checking your account…

Your learning goals

  • Apply all available information.
  • Recognize the limits and exceptions that affect this flight.
  • Explain a decision using the scenario and supporting rule.

All available information

Before any flight, become familiar with all available information concerning it. NWKRAFT is a memory aid, not the regulation’s wording: NOTAMs, Weather, Known ATC delays, Runway lengths, Alternatives, Fuel, Takeoff/landing performance. Check current airport and airspace restrictions, too.

14 CFR §91.103

Local versus away from the airport

For every flight, know runway lengths at intended airports and the required takeoff/landing performance information. For a flight away from the vicinity of an airport, the rule specifically includes weather reports/forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives, and known traffic delays of which ATC has advised you. It supplies no fixed mileage definition of “vicinity.” Local pattern work still requires all available information relevant to that flight.

14 CFR §91.103

Use the airplane’s numbers

Use the approved flight manual’s takeoff/landing data when required. Otherwise use reliable aircraft-appropriate performance information considering elevation, runway slope, weight, wind, and temperature. A runway being longer than yesterday’s roll is not a performance calculation.

14 CFR §91.103

FLIGHT SCENARIO

What would change your plan?

You plan a VFR trip from Champaign to Indianapolis. What must you obtain before departure?

  1. NoticeWhat does this situation require?
  2. VerifyWhat evidence is still missing?
  3. DecideWhat keeps an option open?
Compare your reasoning

Review current weather and NOTAMs, advised ATC delays, fuel, alternatives, runway lengths, and aircraft-specific takeoff/landing performance. This trip is away from the airport vicinity; prepare for a diversion as well as the destination.

SUMMARY

Know the flight before you start it.

Review current weather and NOTAMs, advised ATC delays, fuel, alternatives, runway lengths, and aircraft-specific takeoff/landing performance. This trip is away from the airport vicinity; prepare for a diversion as well as the destination.

Before moving on, explain the decision in your own words: what would you verify, and what would make you change the plan?

PRACTICE

Flashcards and knowledge check

Six flashcards, then five questions with explanations.

Enable JavaScript for flashcards and the knowledge check. The lesson and scenario remain available without it.

Sources & lesson notes

Sources & lesson notes

  1. 14 CFR §91.103Verified against eCFR text current through September 15, 2026.

For U.S. private-pilot airplane study. Rules verified against eCFR text current through September 15, 2026, with linked FAA guidance. Scenarios isolate a rule; actual flight decisions require all applicable rules, aircraft limitations, and current information.