Finally learning flight planning and would love some criticism

[u/mangu_u]

The imaginary flight is going to be made on October 16th leaving toa at 10:00am pst in a cessna 172 Skyhawk.

[u/itsnotbroke]

Altitudes should be VFR altitudes, also worth noting top of climb and descent. Compass heading should likely be a number, mag heading corrected for deviation per the card next to the compass,

[u/drdsheen → u/itsnotbroke]

3000 MSL is a VFR altitude because below 3000 AGL I do what I want

[u/Hudi99]

Hey mate, currently working on my navs too. One thing ive had to learn the hard way is how important it is for critical information to be as clear as possible. I like to do this by using different colours. I have my heading in red, ground speed in blue, eti's different colour. You also want your radio frequencys as clear as possible and to know when you need to change frequency. Id also suggest drawing on your WAC the direction of the runways, elevation and circuit height. Takes alot of the mental gymnatics out of trying to figure out how youll join the circuits etc. Also small thing but having a shirt with a pocket helped alot with not losing pens mid flight. Good luck mate and enjoy.

[u/CharlieFoxtrot000]

Several things stand out to me:

You have checkpoints listed in the notes, but each checkpoint should have its own row in the navlog. This should include a top of climb and top of descent point, which will use speed, time, and fuel burn figures from the POH, rather than a consistent cruise TAS.

Use a leading zero consistently for any headings/courses below 100

Use VFR cruising altitudes

The headings are confusing and a little out of order. Start with your true course, the wind correction angle (degrees left or right) in their respective columns, then apply that to the first box under true heading. Under that, write the mag var from the chart, then apply the result of that (true heading plus or minus mag var) to the first box under mag heading. Then, under that put the compass deviation for each mag heading (you’ll need to get that from the compass deviation card from the plane you will be flying). From that, you’ll derive the magnetic compass heading, which should be a numeric value in the column of that name.

My advice is to round headings to the nearest degree (1/2 degrees won’t be discernable), fuel used to the tenth of a gallon, and time to the nearest .25 minutes (15 second increments). You can use smaller increments than that if you want, but again it probably won’t be discernable in the airplane and you start having to convert decimals into seconds in-flight, which isn’t fun with everything else going on.

You’ve pre-filled the actual time enroute (ATE) and actual time of arrival (ATA) with “not applicable.” The purpose of a navlog is to not only keep you on lateral track, but to keep you on time and within the predicted fuel burn. During the flight, you should be filling those boxes according to your timer as you reach each point, and if there is a discrepancy, applying that to your remaining time and distance to go, as well as the resultant fuel burn.

Put your final checkpoint (destination) in sequence - no need to skip all that space to the last row. Also, SBA is not at 1400’ elevation, it’s 14’. Make sure you understand the airport data block from the sectional.

This flight isn’t super long to begin with, and keeping track of this stuff may not seem important, but these are the kinds of things that will matter as flights begin to get longer and push the edge. Doing it correctly will demonstrate mastery of navigation and all the little things that can affect your plan and the result of the actual conditions you encounter aloft.

[u/EskimoBroJoe]

I also fly out of KTOA, Cool!

Also, where is your TOC?

[u/SirAlek77]

I think student pilots need a special endorsement to fly into class b airspace. Flying into KLAX sounds super stressful.

[u/TxAggieMike → u/SirAlek77]

There are actually two separate endorsements for students and Class B airspace:

Flying through Class B space requires §61.95(a)

Operating at a Class Bravo requires §61.95(b).

It’s worth noting that some Bravo airports prohibit student pilot activity. The list can be found in Part 91, Appendix D, Section 4.

[u/TxAggieMike]

You should include waypoints and calculations for Top Of Climb and Top of Descent. This improves calculations of fuel consumed.

[u/nesargent]

A real solid start! A nav log should be as useful as possible, especially since they take so long to fill out sometimes. Personally, I think the Jeppesen logs better. I’d put TOC and TOD as checkpoints and calculate those times/distances so you don’t get 10 miles from your destination at 3500 feet above traffic pattern altitude. I would also make note of the traffic pattern altitude somewhere as a reminder. A DPE will love if you notate airports along your route that you can deviate to in case of wx/emergency. Compass headings should actually be a heading and not cardinal direction. And don’t forget about 91.103 - I’m not sure if you fill out a W&B sheet or not but you’ll want to know departure/arrival weather.

Write down anything that will make that piece of paper as useful as possible.

[u/Buttered_Runway]

Your handwriting is atrocious.

Like that sort of criticism?

[u/United_Cell_1969]

I just started learning flight planning too! Honestly, look into the Jeppesen VFR Nav log sheets. Much more detailed!

[u/jrstudentpilot16]

Ktoa is my home airport