Flight Planner
Compiling a flight log is a prerequisite to making a cross-country flight. It is used to record the calculations and measurements made in the briefing room, and provides a plan to follow on your knee-board during the actual flight.
The flight log allows you to calculate the heading correction required to achieve a certain track given the forecast wind velocity, and also to estimate your ground speed and thus the time and fuel required for the flight. These calculations are usually done by hand using an E-6B or similar flight computer. This is fine until you realise you’ve made a mistake and need to go back and correct everything. Or maybe you want to set up your flight log the night before, and want to just plug in the wind forecast on the day without having to waste valuable time using the whiz-wheel.
It is much more efficient to use a PC for these simple, but repetitive, calculations. This MS Excel spreadsheet does just that.
Flight Plan
Simply enter your desired track, true air speed, wind forecast, and distance on the flight log just as you would with the paper equivalent. The spreadsheet then calculates the heading you require, your ground speed, and your estimated time enroute. If you would like more information on the calculations done by the flight log, have a look here at the solution to the triangle of velocities.
The flight log also contains some useful mnemonics for various procedures, and also the available manifold pressure requirements for limited-power operations in the Robinson R22 helicopter. These can all be easily changed or edited to your own needs.
Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on how the Flight Planner could be improved.
How You Can Help
If you make use of this FREE tool, please consider making a donation to help fund further development!
Legal Stuff
All files and tools on this page are provided “as is” with no express or implied warranty for accuracy or accessibility. Use at your own risk. All calculations should be checked before being relied upon for flight planning purposes.
on Nov 17th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
[...] to throw the whiz-wheel out the window? Have a look at this Flight Planner that includes the solution to the Triangle of Velocities. With a convenient knee-board sized output [...]