As everyone has said, you need to work with your CFI.
For what it’s worth, though, here's a a quick brain dump of some of the more detailed stuff that I was taught… I'm just a former student, so take this for what it’s worth.
Have fun!
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Things you can figure out days in advance and repeatedly review with your instructor
Frequencies (airports, FSS, approach, etc.)
Runways (draw it/them)
Approach direction (draw it)
Prevailing winds and likely entry pattern (draw it, with a mental plan for the opposite)
Check Points – the dot to dots of your planned course, probably by starting with a straight line from airport A to airport B, and then adjusting that line as desired by studying the chart to identify reliable checkpoints that you can easily identify from the air, that are spaced apart by an appropriate amount so that you always know where you are (I usually tried for about 8-12 nm as a student), accounting for airspace issues, and, just generally figuring out where you want to go.
ALT – the altitude you plan to fly at for each interval, remembering any direction is OK if cruising at <= 3000 AGL, but using odd thousands +500 when cruising on a magnetic course of 0 to 179, and even thousands + 500 when 180 to 359.
Mark your chart with the altitudes and also with numbers or letters that correspond to each check point in your navlog.
TC - True Course – what you get from the chart for each interval by laying your plotter on the chart and measuring the course angle relative to true north
VAR – Variation – The difference between magnetic north and true north in your area (shown on charts as “isogonic lines” of variation). Usually the same variation applies to all of your intervals unless your flight is very long.
MC - Magnetic Course – what you get by starting with TC for each interval and then accounting for the magnetic variation in your area, i.e. MC = TC +/- VAR
AS – Airspeed – your expected airspeed when cruising at your planned altitude and power level (consult your POH for expected TAS)
DIST – the distance between check points
TOTAL DIST – adding up the DIST for all of the intervals
GPH – gallons per hour expected at your planned altitude and power setting (from your POH)
TOC – top of climb – a distance D from your departure field that gives you a sense of when you’ll reach your cruise altitude, derived from your planned altitude change and the assumption that you will be climbing at roughly 500 fpm (e.g. 5500 feet divided by 500 fpm = 11 minutes), and then your GS along those initial intervals. You don’t really have a truly accurate GS until you have the winds aloft, but using your uncorrected AS is close enough to put a big dot on your chart for your approximate “TOC.”
TOD – top of descent – a distance D from your destination field, derived in the same manner.
Things you figure out a few hours before your flight when you have wind aloft data
(you can of course use some presumed wind data to work through these for practice)
Wind – speed and direction of the wind – from “Winds Aloft” data for your area and altitude.
WCA – Wind Correction Angle – This is one of the main places that you use your "whiz wheel" or E6B. What you derive from TC and the “Winds Aloft” data, i.e. by starting with the TC for each interval of your flight and accounting for the affect of the winds along based on speed and direction (as you might gather, the direction from “Winds Aloft” data is referenced to true north –“if you read it, it’s true. If you hear it, it’s magnetic”)
MH - Magnetic Heading – what you get by taking the MC and adding or subtracting the WCA. In theory, the MH is where you would actually point the nose in order to fly the desired course given the winds aloft. This is what you would actually fly each interval with if you were just using your compass.
GS – What you derive from expected AS and current “Winds Aloft” data
ETE – estimated time enroute – how long it should take in minutes to go from checkpoint to checkpoint, derived from DIST and GS. When you actually fly the cross country, you record your “TIME OFF” (say 15 for 10:15 am), and then you quickly add the ETE of the first interval, say 6, to create an ETA (estimated time of arrival) for that interval of 21. If you arrive at 20, you write 20 in the ATA (actual time of arrival), and then quickly determine the ETA for the next interval based on its ETE, and so on, and so forth.
TOTAL TIME, adding up all of the ETEs
USED, or FUEL “USED” – how much fuel used for each interval, derived from GPH and ETE, i.e. GPH * ETE/60.
TOTAL FUEL – based on FUEL, a taxi/takeoff assumption (e.g. 1.1), and a reserve amount (e.g. 30 minutes to be legal, but probably at least 1 hour to be safer). The amount of fuel you determine that you need to complete the cross country, given the winds, and with some added margin of safety.
Takeoff and Landing Distances – by deriving the DA from the field altitude, barometric pressure, and temperature, and then looking up the distances in your POH. You can do a dry run by using the previous day’s data for the same time of day, calling the number for the ATIS or ASOS, finding it on the web,
