Is Cross-Country Flight Planning Passé?

The widespread availability of sophisticated GPS receivers, digitized aviation charts, and internet-based weather information is changing the way student pilots are learning cross-country flight planning. The introduction of new technology and techniques always raises questions: Should student pilots be taught to use paper charts, plotter, pencil, and a slide rule E6B or encouraged to switch entirely to electronic charts, calculators, GPS and computer-based weather briefings? Don’t throw out that plotter and slide rule just yet because the best approach to learning the complicated process of cross-country flight planning involves combining old school with waay cool. Here’s the first installment of a multi-part series on the revolution in VFR cross-country flight planning, written with student pilots and their instructors in mind.

Drawing the Line

One of the first steps in cross-country flight planning is to get a rough idea about the general direction and the distance involved. With a current paper chart, just plop your plotter down and draw a course line between your departure and destination airports with a pencil. Sounds easy enough until you need to plan a route that begins on one side of the chart and continues on the other side, which actually provides a good scenario for comparing paper and digital charts.

FAA VFR charts include instructions for extending a course line from one side of a chart to the other using a pencil and a spare sheet of paper, but it's a Catch 22: You determine the magnetic course by drawing a line between the two points, but you can’t draw the course line because the points are on opposite sides of the chart.

One solution is to purchase a World Aeronautical Chart (WAC), which covers a larger geographic area at a scale of 1 to 1,000,000 as opposed to the sectional chart scale of 1 to 500,000. Good luck finding a WAC anywhere but on-line. One could purchase two versions of the same sectional and piece them together, being careful to account for the 2 minutes of longitudinal overlap on each side. You could cut the Gordian Knot by using Victor airways or choosing a landmark that appears within the overlap on each side of the chart. Or you could use your current chart and an expired chart that you just happened to have saved, just don’t mix them up!

Or simply combine paper with plastic: Use a handheld GPS or any of a variety of web sites to determine the magnetic course between the two airports, then use your pencil and plotter to replicate that course. Which approach is best? That's really up to the pilot. The goal in teaching student pilots is not to preserve hallowed aviation traditions for their own sake. Whether a student is using paper or plastic or a combination of the two, the goal is for them to understand what they're doing and why they're doing it. Using a combinational approach with old and new products may actually end up teaching the student to a correlative level of knowledge.

Digitized charts provide a big, mostly seamless chart and you'd think that would make plotting a course line on a digitized chart easier, but plotting a digital course line can be less flexible and more abstract than doing it by hand with pencil and paper. EFB apps like Skycharts Pro and ForeFlight Mobile as well as online planners like FltPlan or FlightAware will draw a course line representation, but your choice of waypoints may be limited to the VFR reporting points, intersections, navigation aids, and airports contained in the application’s navigation database. Some products allow you to define your own waypoints using lat/long, but that's not terribly convenient.

VFR Sectional and Course line using FltPlan.com

Doing the Coursework

With the course drawn on a paper chart, you use your plotter to measure the true course, locate the nearest isogonic line and apply the magnetic variation shown (subtract Easterly variations, add Westerly variations) to determine the magnetic course. If your destination or departure airport has a VOR on the field, get the magnetic course from the compass rose surrounding that VOR. Either way, with a bit of care and attention will provide the magnetic course on a paper chart within ±1˚, though simple arithmetic errors can result if you’re in a rush.

Old school pilots and instructors rightly claim that never drawing a course line on a paper chart can rob student pilots of an important learning experience about Magnetic declination. Yet with the right input data, computers tend to do a faster and more accurate job with arithmetic and geometry than humans: Waypoints entered, the digital course line drawn, determining the magnetic course is a foregone conclusion. A good approach for student pilots is to plan first on paper, then check your results using a digital source.

Go the Distance

Plotters offer a variety of scales and if you mistakenly measure using the wrong scale ... you won’t be the first pilot to do so. So look carefully, choose the correct scale for your chart and line up the correct marks.

Getting the distance on a digitized chart is a forgone conclusion, but errors are still possible. You can enter the wrong waypoint or misspell the waypoint. One tipoff is a digital course line that makes a sudden, severe turn off the edge of the map you're viewing.

If the digital product you are using provides recently assigned ATC routes, remember that these are instrument flight rules (IFR) clearances and these routes may involve altitude requirements that are beyond capability of the average GA aircraft. If you will be flying IFR, remember that there may not be any recently assigned ATC routes for the departure and destination airport that you have chosen.

Some EFB apps are better than others at drawing a course line that is visible, yet doesn't obscure important information.

FFM course line obscures airway radial

SCP course line is more ... subtle

Overcoming Obstacles

With a preliminary course line drawn, consider the appropriate altitudes one could fly. You'd think that pilots would know and apply the hemispheric rule, but it's surprising how many pilots (intentionally or unintentionally) fly WAFDOF (wrong altitude for direction of flight).  Whether you remember "Odd birds fly East" or simply refer to the diagram etched into many kneeboards, do other pilots a favor: Fly the correct altitude for your magnetic course.

Minimum elevation figures are shown on VFR charts and these provide the lowest altitude that will clear the highest charted obstacle within a specific quadrangle by 300 to 400 feet. Depending on how close your route is to that highest obstruction, flying at or just above that altitude may be the safe thing to do or it may be hopelessly foolhardy. I don't know of any app that will make the assessment of a safe altitude for you: You're going to have to use your little gray cells.

Whether you are using paper or digital charts, a nifty course line that goes to your destination won't necessarily keep you clear of special use airspace. One cool feature in SkyCharts Pro is the ability to get information on special use airspace by tapping. Locate the red circle next to an MOA, prohibited, or restricted area and tap twice to get the effective times, altitudes and the frequency of the controlling agency.

ForeFlight offers a similar feature, but it requires more taps to get the same information. ForeFlight does offer a quick way to create or change course lines by tapping and dragging.

Acquire, Combine, Conquer

Paper chart adherents often claim that paper is foolproof because paper charts don’t require batteries, they can be folded and handled, and are less intimidating to pilots who may be less computer savvy. True, but paper charts have some serious disadvantages: They can be torn, damaged, lost, or hopelessly riddled with marks from previous flight planning efforts. Last, but not least, all paper charts eventually expire and become obsolete.

Even before the FAA changed the structure for chart retailers, it was often difficult to get a paper chart unless you planned ahead. With a reduced number of chart retailers, your odds of acquiring a current paper chart at the last minute from a local retailer is tantamount to winning the lottery. A chart subscription is obviously the best bet, but that’s not much help if you’re away from home on a longer trip, need an oddball chart, or you lost your chart a week before it was set to expire.

The chart retailers who remain have to deal with unsold, expired paper charts. Charts have to be printed and physically shipped which adds to the cost and carbon-loading. Old school pilots are familiar with the various paper chart subscription services available through Aeronav or a variety of on-line retailers, but they may not be up-to-speed on the various options for digital charts.

Digitized charts, whether viewed on-line or on an iPad, tablet, laptop or desktop computer can be acquired at a lower cost (some are available on-line for free), they are easy to update, and they can cover large geographic areas without folding, flipping, or ripping. There’s no physical shipping required and no paper to recycle. The disadvantages of electronic charts basically boil down to all the possible failures to which electronic devices are heir to, including screen readability in bright light, software/hardware failures, and drained batteries. There are also some problems with how digitized charts are stitched together, but that really just reflects the limitations with how the FAA generates the charts. Hopefully that process will continue to be modernized and soon we'll see seamless VFR and IFR charts become a reality.

FAA VFR charts can be downloaded to your computer as raster files for free, and a simple, free, and platform-independent solution for viewing them is Google Earth. Follow the instructions in this WikiHowTo  and overlay sectionals and terminal area charts in Google Earth. While this approach has limitations, it does offer pilots the ability to view charts for large geographic areas at little or no cost. You can even do some rudimentary flight planning activities, like determining the course and distance between airports.

Several products are available for the iPad that allow you to access VFR charts, including ForeFlight and Skycharts. The cost of these products varies from $20 per year to $80 per year or more. Like all cockpit resource management issues, one size does not fit all. Both of these apps allow you to create flight plans that will draw course lines on the digital charts and give you magnetic courses, but old school paper chart planning provides more flexibility and, dare I say it, precision.

If you are a Mac user, MacGPS Pro provides another option for importing FAA raster charts. MacGPS Pro lets you define user waypoints, integrate with an external GPS receiver, and measure distances and courses. Similar solutions probably exist for the Windows world, but not being a Windows user, well ...

Paper and Plastic

After a student pilot has been through the flight planning process a half dozen times using paper charts, it's not clear that any more learning is likely to take place by restricting them to old school planning. While I do believe that a students' primary experience should involve pencil, plotter, and paper chart, that doesn't mean they should be discouraged from branching out to the high-tech solutions once they understand flight planning basics. Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of paper and digitized charts it’s easy to conclude that the best approach is to understand and use both. Having a paper back-up strategy in flight is the prudent advice offered by the FAA’s AC on Electronic Flight Bags.

Some pilots may still resist using digitized charts for the understandable reason that they simply prefer holding a chart in their hands. Nothing wrong with that, but charting and flight planning is changing. Time waits for no one, not even old school pilots, so don't be afraid to explore and experiment.

In future installments, I'll discuss how technology is changing calculators, navigation log preparation, and in-flight diversions.

How to Scud Run

When told that it is dangerous to fly at a low altitude under an overcast or broken sky, some pilots go out and fly at a low altitude under a ceiling of clouds with marginal visibility. I did it myself just the other day with a CFI candidate, pretty much right after the GA accident in New York. No, I'm not crazy and I'm not big on taking risks. And I decided it was time to reveal my personal tips on How to Scud Run Without Killing Yourself.

If you are going to scud run (fly at a low altitude under an overcast or broken sky), there are several things you need to do.

First, know that you have chosen to do something inherently dangerous and, this part is important, admit it to yourself. Bravado and braggadocio are for nut jobs and pilots soon to be selected out of the gene pool. Now that you have accepted that you are heading into the danger zone, it's time to start evaluating and planning.

Scud running requires a clear idea of where you are going and how you plan to get there. Let's say you have both a surface weather observation and a terminal area forecast for your departure and arrival airports. That's great, but what about the area in between, the area that is most crucial, the area where you may come close to terrain, the area where there is no controller, no radar contact, and no runway? This is where you need to use all available information - satellite photos, pilot reports, and your knowledge of local weather patterns - to decide how best to get from point A to point B.

Once you have a planned route to fly under the overcast, come up with Plan B - where you will go if the route you want to fly is not passable. And while you're at it, how about a Plan C? The easiest Plan B is to just turn around and return, assuming the weather conditions haven't deteriorated, and it's the plan many pilots never seem to consider. Truth be told, some pilots seem so intent on continuing along their planned route that it's almost like they want to come to grief.

Don't let your Plan B consist of hoping to find a hole in the ceiling and climb through it to VFR conditions unless you have some really good evidence that this is indeed a possibility. Wishing doesn't make it so.

It's also foolish to assume that Plan B will be to ask for and receive an IFR clearance to climb to VFR on top if you get in a jam. ATC may be able to grant this request, but then again they might be too busy or you might be below radar or radio coverage. If ATC does agree to help you out, they may ask you "Can you maintain your own terrain and obstacle clearance until reaching some altitude?" The bottom line is never assume that an IFR clearance will be available for you.

Speaking of weather, who is? But if I were, you should be interested in the overall weather pattern. If the weather is marginal VFR, are things going to get better or worse, and how quickly? If you're going to scud run, it's best to be headed toward better weather conditions or, at the very least, to have a stable weather pattern. If the weather isn't going to cooperate, file an IFR flight plan or stay on the ground.

One you are airborne, pick an altitude that will give you adequate terrain clearance and legal visibility and cloud clearance. Then fly that altitude! Your eyes are going to be outside a good part of the time while scud running, so being able to accurately fly a predetermined altitude is an important skill. If your predetermined altitude starts to take you into the clouds, don't be overly optimistic. Instead, reevaluate the situation and consider turning around or implementing Plan B.

If you have terrain awareness features on your panel-mounted or handheld GPS, by all means use it. But don't fixate on it.

Don't scud run in areas where you don't know the terrain and where you don't have an understanding of the local weather patterns.

In busy terminal areas you should keep in mind that if you have chosen to scud run, there are probably a bunch of other pilots who have made the same choice. You and your scud-running brethren will be squeezed in to a thin layer of usable airspace and face the chance of coming into close physical contact.

If you find yourself maneuvering in tight quarters, slow the plane down to a slow cruise. Slowing the plane down makes things unfold more slowly, giving you time to think, make decisions, or at least react to what's happening. A slower airspeed gives you the ability to keep your radius of turn small. A 30 degree bank angle at 90 knots is going give you a higher rate of turn and a smaller radius of turn that blasting along at 130 knots.

Oh, and I don't scud run at night.

Finally, scud running can be a seductive experience. Do it successfully a few times and you might start thinking it's a piece of cake. Just remember that like airframe icing encounters, no two scud running adventures are the same. What worked one time, might not work the second time.

And if you have your tips or advice for reducing the risks of flying in marginal VFR, please chime in.

Night Flights, Hearing Voices, & Small Arms Fire

The weather in Northern California the past two weeks has been excellent for flying. Warm, but not too warm. Calm winds and a pressure gradient pattern that has kept the marine layer mostly off the coast. Add to this equation a full moon and you have the perfect setting for a couple of excellent, instructional night flights.

The first was a night flight with an instrument candidate. It was warm and mostly dry with light and variable winds all the way to 6000 feet MSL. With a slight haze, we made our way toward Susin Bay for an LDA practice approach as the sun set over the Pacific. Outbound on the procedure turn was were I caught the first glimpse of the nearly full moon - an unbelievably large Mandarin orange crescent rising from behind the distant Sierra Nevada Mountains. Of course my student couldn't see this, being under what Hamish calls the cone of stupidity. So I did the decent thing and asked my student to look up. He took a few moments to appreciate the sight and, after the requisite oouuhaa, it was back to the salt mines. During the flight, the moon rose higher and higher, bathing the sleeping countryside in a soft, silver light.

The next night involved an hour in the traffic pattern at Oakland so my student pilot could log the necessary night landings. The tower controller was most accommodating, demonstrating light gun signals twice upon request. I usually point out a good landmark like the Hayward Civic Center to help pilots line up on downwind. Last night, the full moon rose from behind the Sunol Ridge and provided the best target imaginable. We did all the landings available on the menu - normal, short field, power off, and the always popular no-flaps landing without cockpit or landing lights.

Yesterday was a flight in the Cirrus to Reno, part of a warm up for the pilot who will be taking a trip over some mountainous terrain. We succeeded in getting the SR22 doors to latch and we were on our way, climbing to 9,500 feet for the trip over the Sierra Nevada. The winds aloft forecast called for 20 knot winds out of the south and as suspected, the ride turned decidedly bumpy as we passed over the Hangtown VOR at Placerville. I find it amusing that the VOR is actually called Hangtown, which was Placerville's infamous moniker during the mid-1800s gold rush, presumably because of the frequent dispensing of hanging as a form of justice.

This was the view as we slipped just northwest of Lake Tahoe.


We climbed to 11,500 feet and things smoothed out a bit, but the winds aloft were higher that what was forecast and pushed our ground speed to just under 200 knots. You can see that pesky ALT2 light is on, indicating it has failed. This has been a recurring problem and the shop just can't seem to get to the bottom of it.



The descent into Reno got bumpy, but close to the surface the winds were calm and the temperature a moderate 30 degrees Celsius. Approach gave us a right base entry to runway 16 left, which gave us time to slow down and descend. On the ground, I made a quick call home. Surprised to learn that I was in Reno, my wife mentioned that she felt lucky and encouraged me to find a slot machine. Alas, I couldn't find a single one-armed bandit in the FBO. So after a short stop for lunch and some very expensive fuel (which reduced the ramp and airport fee), we were on our way back.

With the midday sun shining through clear skies, the climb out of Reno was decidedly more bumpy that when we arrived. During the climb out, following I-80 through the pass, the VSI alternated between 200 feet per minute and 1200 feet per minute - a good indication of the updrafts and downdrafts we were flying through. Now fighting a 28 knot quartering head wind, our ground speed slowed to 145 knots and provided a nice opportunity to discuss strategies for recognizing and avoiding mountain waves as well as other way to maximize passenger comfort. One simple rule is to avoid flights over mountainous terrain when the winds aloft forecast exceed 25 knots. Another guideline is to avoid flying at midday and fly early in the morning or late in the day, when solar heating of the earth's surface is reduced.

We originally planned to cruise back at 10,500, but the ride was so rough we decided to climb to 12,500 for the brief 15 minute ride across the Sierra Nevada. At the pilot's request, we diverted south a bit and descended to get a view of a lake just to the east of Ice House Reservoir. I was surprised to see several aircraft below us appear as targets on the Cirrus' traffic watch. We did a few orbits around the lake, staying above 10,000', as much to avoid the other aircraft as to avoid the turbulence below.

Here's a view of the Sierra Nevada while we were gently banking.


One thing that didn't happen on the entire flight was the annoying terrain warnings I mentioned earlier. Why no "Terrain, pull up!" scoldings? I discovered that a Garmin 396 that was added to this plane as a backup system was actually wired into the audio panel. This fact came to light quite by accident. Seems the other partner in the aircraft was listening to the built-in XM radio on the trip before ours and I immediately heard music when the avionics switch was turned on. I had not realized that the 396 was connected to the audio panel. That's when it occurred to us that the aural terrain warnings must have been coming from the 396. So we turned it off and that simple solution provided a peaceful flight. An interesting lesson on the complicated interactions that are possible when different equipment is connected to the aircraft by different people.

Back at the home base, we were putting the aircraft back in the hangar when I heard what sounded like gunfire. I stuck my head out of the hangar door and saw an airport vehicle involved in bird hazing - trying to scare birds away by shooting firecracker-like ordinance in their direction. I have no idea what sort of equipment is used to do this hazing, but I could see a puff of smoke in the air each time I heard the report from a small explosion. I returned to helping get the plane secured and when I went back out of the hangar, I saw the unintended consequences of the bird hazing. Somehow one of the rounds being shot had sparked a grass fire. Luckily, this airport has fire fighting trucks on the field and the small blaze was quickly extinguished. Bet the birds were scared away, too.