Flight Planning and Top of Climb

[speedy71]

So, i've been on a couple cross country flights so far and feel pretty comfortable with the whole planning process, except for the ToC location. the process i was taught tells me to plot the course line and then mark all the checkpoints, but doesn't call out ToC as one of the checkpoints. since ToC can be variable depending on the altitude we select (which depends on winds aloft), then if i do my flight plan more than 4 hours before flight, then ToC could be different by the time i fly. How do you guys typically account for ToC when doing a flight plan?

 

[MAKG1]

Time and range are in the POH.

If it's just a short climb at low altitude, add 1 minute per 1000 feet and climb at 75 (172) or 90 (faster airplane).

 

[woodchucker]

Flight planning is always going to be subject to wind changes. Usually the wind forecast is fairly accurate for a morning flight if planned the evening before. The actual geographic location isn't necessarily important, but the time in climb is.

A couple of reasons why ToC is important (in my opinion):

1) It determines how many miles to reach your cruise altitude, which can affect flight planning around terrain. For VFR this isn't all that important, but for planning purposes it's a good habit to consider.

2) Time during climb is at full throttle with a higher fuel burn.

3) Tracking your time to climb and marking how long it took to get to cruise altitude will give you a quick check against your flight plan on how accurate the wind forecast was. Of course, if you have GPS, then GS gives you that as well.

 

[KYPrivatePilot]

Not to side track here but I remember doing all this in training. So fortunate to be flying in the digital world. I so hated planning all that on paper in the 90's. Now with the electronic flight bag, its so easy to plot & plan, load into gps & go.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[hook_dupin]

For my students, I don't have them calculate wind correction into the climb. Here's what I find works: make sure that second check point is super-obvious so you won't miss it. Timing to the TOC will almost always be off. Do the best you can, then get on your game at that second check point.

 

[LDJones]

Just do all flights at 500 AGL or below and it's a non-issue.

 

[nimdabew]

For my students, I don't have them calculate wind correction into the climb. Here's what I find works: make sure that second check point is super-obvious so you won't miss it. Timing to the TOC will almost always be off. Do the best you can, then get on your game at that second check point.

Really? Those time/fuel/distance charts are usually pretty accurate. The time portion of the chart tells you how much time you will spend in the climb, the fuel burned during the climb, and the distance is used to calculate your true airspeed.

(Distance / Time) * 60 = Climb TAS

Use climb TAS for your wind spiny dealie and then you get ground speed. Use ground speed to calculate how far you will go with the time portion of the chart, and viola, you have a distance.