Flight Planning For Dummies

Geico266

Geico266

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Another thread about an accident where the plane ran out of fuel got me to thinking about flight planning.
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69611

It's not rocket science and there are tools available to assist you in finding places to fuel. Running out of fuel in the air is the leading cause of planes crashing. :eek:

AirNav has a great tool to plane fuel stops. This is what I use to plan my CC trips. It works great unless I have to divert or change routes, but all I have to do is find a printer and a wifi connection and I am good to go.

http://www.airnav.com/

Click on the tab at the top of the page that says "Aviation Fuel". Go down the list and click "Plan a flight with fuel stops".

http://www.airnav.com/plan/fuel/

About 3/4 the way down the page change the "Time of day to refuel" to 24 hour with no surcharge" to get only self serve card readers.

Fill out the "departure and destination" info and what fuel you need. At the bottom are 3 tabs, click " I can find my own route".

You will need to massage the info and distant from your flight route (I change it to 15 miles) to get all of the self serve FBOs along my planned route.

Play with this for a while and you will get some very useful info about self serve FBOs along your route. Print out the list and take it with you. It even lists prices to save you money! The point is there is no reason to run out of fuel. Trying to "stretch the fuel legs usually doesn't end well. Land with an hour of fuel minimum!

Oh, and add comments and update prices to help AirNav stay current! USE IT!

Be careful out there!



What fuel planning programs or web sites do you use? :dunno:
 
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You are preaching to the choir.
You need to spend face time with those who are not on here.
 
It always seems like most of us on these forums(POA, VAF, and Matronics) are a tad safer and want to continue to learn. It is going to be difficult to reach the other 90%.
 
Why plan fuel stops? I figure if/when I run out of gas I'll just sue someone.


:eek: :hairraise: :dunno: :yikes:
 
Im sure im not the only one who actually uses the POH and then adds a gallon or two per hour for a decent safety factor.

Then again, I have 84 gallons.
 
Geico266 said:
What fuel planning programs or web sites do you use? :dunno:
Click to expand...

100LL.com - pick any airport about 3 hrs away along a direct line from departure to destination and 100LL.com will give fuel prices for all airports nearby - I generally carry either 50 or 72 gallons useable and burn about 9 or 10 depending on how fast I want to go so the 3 hr choice is pretty darn safe - extremely high winds can cause a problem so I usually plan to stop in 3 hours regardless which may mean picking a different airport - I keep flight time up on the 330 so I'm always aware of how much fuel I should have remaining and the gauges on the 'kota are fairly accurate so far - been thinking about adding a totalizer since I already have fuel rate data from the EI engine monitor.

With all that said I will occasionally plan a long leg as a challenge to my skills. It's a fun exercise and anything (wind/weather/gut feel) will make me stop short for fuel. I usually pick some good mid-way fuel stops as part of the planning on these exercises. Sometimes I just make it up (the mid-way stop) in the air and that usually gets expensive but it's fun to just drop in somewhere and ask for food & fuel.
 
The club's C-172N with long range tanks has 6 hours of gas. I have a 3 hour bladder. Do the math. :D
 
People need to get over their MPG though process, distance has nothing to do with it.

It is GPH, so time matters. That and, are you really leaned, did you factor in the climb, decent etc.. Or did you just add a gallon or two to the cruise setting to account for it?

People just need to put some though into it..

3 maybe 3.5hrs and I need out anyway.
 
The EFB products like ForeFlight all have a fuel finder. When I planned our MN to south FL spring break trip, I put in the start and end points, then turned on the 100LL display and rubber-banded my route to the nearest, cheapest fuel at 3-4 hour intervals. With almost 6 hours range, that left plenty of reserve for headwinds, even on the 4 hour leg.

It's highly stressful to fly low on fuel....not sure why anyone does it.
 
ja_user said:
People need to get over their MPG though process, distance has nothing to do with it.

It is GPH, so time matters. That and, are you really leaned, did you factor in the climb, decent etc.. Or did you just add a gallon or two to the cruise setting to account for it?

People just need to put some though into it..

3 maybe 3.5hrs and I need out anyway.
Click to expand...

100% :yes:
 
LDJones said:
It's highly stressful to fly low on fuel....not sure why anyone does it.
Click to expand...

Usually to save $.25 a gallon. :rolleyes:

60 gallons x $.25 = $15. How much is your airplane worth? How much is your dignity worth? How much is your life worth?
 
It can't be a planning issue. it has to be pilots in the moment just pushing their luck.

Fuel is everywhere. How the hell does anyone run out?

999938583030.jpg
 
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RV10flyer said:
It always seems like most of us on these forums(POA, VAF, and Matronics) are a tad safer and want to continue to learn. It is going to be difficult to reach the other 90%.
Click to expand...

I've often thought of it as an engagement issue. People who post here, read aviation mag's, etc. on a routine basis are engaged in aviation and have probably thought through a lot of the issues much better than the guy who's engrossed in his other avocation(s) and places aviation 3rd on the priority list.
 
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