How To Plan a Cross-Country Flight

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It’s a clear Saturday with nothing on your calendar, and a rented Cessna is sitting on the ramp with your name on the schedule.

A couple of hours away is an airport you’ve always wanted to visit. The only thing between you and that trip is a plan. 

Cross-country flight planning is just the work you do on the ground first. You’ll map out your route and make sure you can complete the trip safely.

We’ve boiled it down to six steps. Once you’ve walked through them a few times, VFR flight planning will start to feel just like a routine part of the job.

Key Takeaways

• Cross-country flight planning always makes your flight safer and helps you avoid surprises.
• Always start with a full weather check and an honest go/no-go decision based on legal and personal minimums.
• Your nav log includes your compass heading, times en route, distance, and groundspeed.
• Confirm that your aircraft’s performance stays within the limits that depend on external conditions.

What Is Cross-Country Flight Planning?

Before you get inside the cockpit and push the throttle forward, there’s work to be done on the ground.

Cross-country flight planning is the pre-flight task of mapping your route, checking the weather, running the numbers on fuel and weight and balance, building a navigation log, and preparing your VFR flight plan.

Take note that these tasks under VFR flight planning are standard and legal requirements, on top of being just good habits.

Under 14 CFR 91.103, you’re required as pilot-in-command to become familiar with all available information concerning your flight before you go.

For a trip away from your home field, you should check weather reports and forecasts. You should also pin down fuel requirements, alternates, runway lengths, and takeoff and landing distances.

Logging Cross-Country Time

So, what counts as a cross-country time in your pilot’s logbook?

For logging experience towards a private pilot certificate, check out 14 CFR 61.1. You’ll need to land at a point more than 50 nautical miles in a straight line distance from your original departure.

You must make use of dead reckoning, pilotage, electronic navigation aids, radio aids, or other navigation systems in an appropriate aircraft.

Step 1: Check the Weather and Make a Go/No-Go Call

Your first consideration will be what the sky is doing. This is where your go/no-go decision lives and dies.

Weather Reports and Forecasts

Look into METARs for a picture of current conditions. Check the TAFs for the forecast at your departure and destination, plus anywhere along the route.

There are also PIREPs, which are real reports from pilots already up there. Verify with the winds aloft so you know the conditions waiting for you at cruise.

When you’re ready to pull it together, grab a standard briefing through Flight Service at 1800wxbrief.com. Or, self-brief using an FAA resource like aviationweather.gov. 

Legal Minimums

Once you’ve got a full picture of the weather, it’s time to determine if you’re legally cleared to fly.

You’ll find the regulatory floor in 14 CFR 91.155, the basic VFR weather minimums.

In Class E airspace (where much of your cross-country flying happens) below 10,000 feet, that means at least 3 statute miles of visibility. 

You should be able to stay 500 feet below, 1,000 feet above, and 2,000 feet horizontally from the clouds.

Also, if your cross-country runs at night and you plan to carry anyone else, 14 CFR 61.57(b) requires you to be night current. 

You should’ve made at least three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop within the preceding 90 days, during the window from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise.

Touch-and-goes don’t count here, and neither does daytime practice.

Personal Minimums

But legal and safe aren’t necessarily the same thing.

When conditions turn marginal, the responsible move is often a delay, or even an outright no-go. Yes, even when the law allows you.

In that sense, we encourage you to set personal minimums. These should comfortably match your own proficiency. The PAVE checklist is an incredible guide when you’re making that choice.

A ceiling that’s technically legal but just barely so is how a routine trip becomes a decision you can’t take back.

Step 2: Choose Your Route and Plot Your Course

With the weather sorted, it’s time to decide exactly where you’re going and how you’ll get there. It’s time to plot your course.

Pull out a sectional chart. Then, draw a course line from your departure airport to your destination. Measure its true direction with a plotter, and step off the distance.

Turns and Checkpoints

Along that line, pick out checkpoints. These should be recognizable features on the ground that confirm you’re on track.

A bend in a river or a highway junction can be a great landmark.

This is the heart of pilotage. You’re looking outside and matching what you see to what’s printed on the chart.

It’s the oldest trick in the book and still one of the most reliable. Especially when you pair it with dead reckoning and your nav log.

Altitudes

You’ll also need to choose a cruising altitude. Above 3,000 feet AGL, the rule is in 14 CFR 91.159.

If your magnetic course falls between 0 and 179 degrees, you fly an odd thousand plus 500 feet, like 3,500 ft or 5,500 ft.

Between 180 and 359 degrees, it’s an even thousand plus 500, like 4,500 ft or 6,500 ft.

This system of staggering keeps VFR traffic from colliding head-on.

Airspace to Watch Out For

Finally, trace your route and see whose airspace you’re about to enter.

Watch for controlled airspace around busier fields, each with its own entry requirements. Plus, look out for any special-use airspace or temporary flight restrictions you’d rather not stumble into.

Once your route is drawn, check NOTAMs for your departure and arrival airports, plus the airspace in between. 

A NOTAM might warn you of a closed runway or a navaid out of service. These things could break an otherwise perfect plan.

You can pull them from the FAA’s NOTAM Search at notams.aim.faa.gov/notamSearch. 

Step 3: Fill Out Your VFR Nav Log

You’ve laid out your blank navigation log on your desk, and it’s time to fill it out. 

We’re going into some math now, but just harmless addition and subtraction at most, and some tinkering with your flight computer. Nothing you can’t handle.

The whole sequence looks like this: 

TC ± WCA = TH ± V = MH ± D = CH

Now, let’s give meaning to these letters. First let’s observe this pilot planning sheet.

And then examine the visual flight log.

True Heading

Above, you’ll see the fields you need to fill out in your navigation log.

To get CH, let’s start with True Course (TC), which you measure directly from the chart.

Lay your plotter along the course line. Then, read the angle against a line of longitude near the middle of the leg. That’s your course relative to true north, or your true course.

Problem is, the wind rarely blows straight down that course, so you have to crab into it to avoid drifting. 

The amount you crab is the Wind Correction Angle (WCA). You can obtain the WCA using a manual or electronic flight computer.

You should add the WCA to your TC when the wind is from your right, and subtract it from your TC when the wind is from your left.

The answer you get is the True Heading (TH). 

Magnetic Heading

In a world without magnetic quirks, this would be the direction you’d point the nose.

But the world has magnetic quirks. True north and magnetic north don’t line up, and that difference is called Variation (V). 

You’ll find this along the dashed magenta isogonic lines in your sectional chart.

Apply the variation using the old reminder. “East is least, and west is best.”

Subtract easterly variation and add westerly. That turns true heading into Magnetic Heading (MH).

Compass Heading

You’re almost there.

Your aircraft’s own metal and electronics tug at the compass needle, and they could slightly change where the needle is pointing. This is an error known as Deviation (D). 

Read the correction straight off the compass card mounted near the instrument.

Apply it, and the magnetic heading becomes Compass Heading (CH). This is the number on the compass you’ll actually fly.

Ground Speed

You can also do these calculations using your flight computer. But when it comes to calculating your Ground Speed (GS), that’s where the E6B earns its keep. 

Check out our E6B guide to learn the step-by-step process of getting your ground speed and wind correction angle.

Step 4: Calculate Weight, Balance, and Fuel

A handful of numbers have to line up before a cross-country.

Your loaded aircraft must sit at or below its maximum gross takeoff weight. Its center of gravity has to fall inside the published CG limits. 

Also, you need enough fuel for the whole route plus a legal reserve. 

Fuel Reserve

Under 14 CFR 91.151, you need enough fuel to reach your first point of intended landing, considering wind and weather.

On top of that, carry enough to keep flying at normal cruising speed for at least 30 minutes by day, or 45 minutes by night.

Gross Takeoff Weight

Weight is a budget, and the line item you control is useful load. This is your maximum gross weight minus the aircraft’s empty weight.

Everything you add fights for space inside for that number. Usable fuel plus your passengers and their bags.

What’s left after fuel is your payload, and here’s how your tradeoff could go.

Top off the tanks, and you may not have the weight left to carry a full cabin. Fill the seats, and you may not be able to fill the tanks.

On most trips, you’re trading one against the other.

Range

Fuel also dictates how far you can actually go. 

Usable fuel and your cruise burn rate give you endurance in hours. But wind is what turns those hours into miles you can fly, and we call this your maximum range.

A stiff headwind will drop your groundspeed, and with it, your real range. That’s why the rules tell you to consider wind when planning your fuel. 

For every one of these figures, your source is the aircraft’s POH/AFM.

Balance

When your aircraft is out of balance, the effects will feel the same as flying overweight. That’s why it’s called weight and balance. You treat both with the same respect. 

We’ve talked about the effects of overloading your aircraft. Well, poor balance is just as unforgiving.

It will throw off both stability and control. Remember, you’re relying on them to fly the airplane the way it’s meant to be flown.

We’ll walk you through the calculation process in our weight-and-balance guide.

Step 5: Check Performance

With your numbers set, the last question is if the aircraft can actually use the runways at both ends of the trip.

Pull the required takeoff and landing distances from your POH performance charts, then compare them against the runway length available at each airport.

If a runway is shorter than what the book says you need, with a healthy safety margin on top, that’s a problem you want to find on the ground and not on the roll.

Density Altitude

The catch is that those book numbers assume specific conditions. But density altitude changes from day to day and place to place. With the right conditions, it can throw your safety margin out the window.

When it’s hot and the field sits high, the air thins out. Thin air lengthens your takeoff roll while flattening your climb.

Just take a look at how dramatic it gets. A takeoff run that needs 1,000 feet at sea level on a standard day can easily double (or worse) at a high, hot airport. So don’t plan off the standard-day figures.

Run your takeoff and landing numbers for the density altitude and weight you’re expecting.

Where to Find Runway Information

For the runway lengths and the rest of the airport details, the FAA’s Chart Supplement is your official source.

It lists runway dimensions, lighting, field elevation, available services, and the notes that don’t fit on a sectional. Confirm that every field on your route is one you can comfortably get in and out of.

Step 6: File and Open Your VFR Flight Plan

Once the planning’s done, a VFR flight plan gives search and rescue a head start if you never turn up. For this reason, we strongly advise you to file a flight plan, even if it’s technically not required. 

The main thing to understand is that the flight plan is entirely up to you.

You file it with Flight Service before you go. Then, it’s up to you to open it once you’re airborne and close it after you land.

Filling It Out

The form looks busy, but for a simple cross-country, filling out the FAA flight plan (Form 7233-1) goes by quickly.

Working down from Item 1, mark what kind of trip this is, so you check VFR. 

Item 2 takes your aircraft identification, or your tail number. Then it asks what you’re flying and how fast, with the aircraft type in Item 3 and true airspeed in knots in Item 4.

The flight plan then goes on to trace your journey. You give where you’re leaving from and when in Items 5 and 6, using UTC for the time.

Then, write down how high you’ll cruise in Item 7, the path you’ll follow in Item 8, and your destination in Item 9.

Item 10 is where you’ll fill in your estimated time enroute, which you should know if you’ve made your nav log.

The rest is information for search and rescue. These are where you’ll leave remarks, fuel on board in hours and minutes, an alternate, your name and number, souls on board, and the aircraft’s color. 

Sign off, and the form details your whole flight.

VFR Flight Following

A flight plan won’t actually talk to you once you’re airborne, though. For that, you request VFR flight following. It’s a separate ATC service that offers traffic advisories when the controller’s workload allows.

It doesn’t open your flight plan, and it doesn’t replace your own job of seeing and avoiding. But even so, it’s a welcome extra set of eyes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a VFR Flight Plan?

A VFR flight plan is a form you file with Flight Service that lays out your route and timing, plus a few details about your aircraft. This helps search and rescue know where to look if you don’t arrive.

It isn’t a request for an ATC service, and it isn’t required for a VFR flight, though the FAA strongly recommends filing one.

You or activate your flight plan with Flight Service once you’re airborne, and you close it after you land safely. These days, you file on FAA Form 7233-1 for a domestic flight.

What Is a Cross-Country Flight in Aviation?

In everyday terms, a cross-country flight is any flight that takes you from one airport to another instead of staying in the local pattern. 

For logging purposes, though, the FAA is more specific. 

To count toward private pilot experience, the flight has to include a landing at a point with a straight line distance of at least 50 nautical miles from your original departure. This is per 14 CFR 61.1.

How Do You Fill Out a VFR Nav Log?

You build it one leg at a time. Work out the true course and distance, the wind correction and resulting compass heading, and then the groundspeed. 

From that, you get the leg’s time en route and fuel burn.

An E6B flight computer or a flight planning app crunches the wind and time calculations, but the leg-by-leg logic is the same either way.

Do You Have to File a Flight Plan for a VFR Cross-Country?

Not necessarily.

A VFR flight plan isn’t required by regulation, though we strongly recommend it.

Pilots file anyway because it’s a safety net. If you don’t close the plan after landing, Flight Service starts looking for you.

Isn’t that exactly what you’d want if a flight ever went sideways?

What Is the Difference Between a Nav Log and a Flight Plan?

Your nav log is the working document where you crunch the leg-by-leg navigation, the headings, groundspeeds, times, and fuel that get you where you’re going. 

The flight plan is the form you file with Flight Service so authorities know your route and can raise the alarm if you don’t turn up.

How Much Fuel Reserve Do You Need for a VFR Cross-Country?

Under 14 CFR 91.151, an airplane flying VFR needs enough fuel to reach its first point of intended landing and then keep flying at normal cruising speed.

You need to account for at least an extra 30 minutes during the day or 45 minutes at night.

That’s a legal minimum rather than a target, so most pilots plan to land with more in the tanks than the rule strictly requires.

What Tools Do You Need to Plan a Cross-Country Flight?

At a minimum, you’ll want a current sectional chart and a plotter for laying out and measuring your route. Also, have your flight computer ready to handle the wind and the math. 

You’ll also need your aircraft’s POH/AFM for performance and fuel figures. Take notes from a reliable weather source for your briefing, and you’ve got what you need.

Conclusion

We’re back to that free Saturday and the airport you’ve never flown to. 

With the weather checked, the course plotted, the numbers run, and the flight plan filed, the trip is so on! Step by step, the way you planned it.

That’s the real payoff of good planning. A confident pilot is one who’s prepared.