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A yellow gyroplane with rotor turning on grass

Ground school lesson

Planning a flight, start to finish

A planned flight is a series of already-made decisions. The regulation even says so: preflight action is required, not recommended.

My Hangar

Lesson 23 of 27 · 3 steps · about 8 minutes · ends with a quiz

What you will be able to do

  • Assemble the numbers 91.103 requires before every flight.
  • Fuel-plan with the legal reserve and a personal one on top.
  • Know your NTSB obligations and where the AIM fits.

  1. Step 1 of 3

    The numbers before every flight

    Required preflight action (14 CFR 91.103)

    • Runway lengths at every airport of intended use, from the chart supplement or airport data block.
    • Takeoff and landing distance for your aircraft at today's weight and density altitude, from the flight manual, against those runways.
    • Weather reports and forecasts: the METARs you can read, plus TAFs and area forecasts along the route.
    • Fuel requirements, computed, not felt.
    • Alternatives if the flight cannot be completed, chosen while you are calm on the ground.

    A getting-a-briefing habit worth building from day one: a standard briefing from Flight Service (1800wxbrief) or its app before any cross-country. It is free, it is logged, and it exists for exactly this checklist.

  2. Step 2 of 3

    Fuel, with honesty

    The day-VFR legal minimum is enough fuel to reach your first landing point plus 30 minutes at normal cruise. Treat that as the floor it is:

    The computation

    Distance ÷ groundspeed gives time en route; time times the manual's burn rate gives trip fuel; add the reserve and round up. Headwinds count against groundspeed: a gyroplane cruising 60 knots into 20 knots of wind covers 40 over the ground.

    The personal rule

    Most careful pilots carry an hour's reserve in light aircraft. Fuel gauges are cross-checks; the dipstick or sight tube before engine start, plus arithmetic, is the truth.

    Pick the alternate airport while planning, look up its runway and CTAF too, and mark the point along the route where you would divert. A decision made at the kitchen table survives contact with weather far better than one invented at 500 feet.

  3. Step 3 of 3

    When something goes wrong: the NTSB and the AIM

    Two references round out the knowledge the regulation asks of a sport pilot:

    NTSB Part 830, the headline obligations

    • Immediately notify the NTSB after an accident (death, serious injury, or substantial damage) and after certain listed serious incidents, such as an in-flight fire or a flight-control system failure.
    • Preserve the wreckage until the Board takes over, moving it only to protect people or property.
    • A written report follows within 10 days of an accident. The full, current list of reportable events lives in Part 830 itself: read it once now, not for the first time afterwards.

    And the Aeronautical Information Manual is the FAA's own free plain-language explainer for procedures, airspace, lighting, signals and radio phraseology: the reference this course keeps pointing at. Advisory circulars extend it topic by topic. Both are updated continuously and free on faa.gov, which is exactly where a self-briefing pilot should keep bookmarks.

Check yourself

3 questions. Pick an answer to see whether it is right and why.

  1. Minimum fuel for a day VFR flight is enough to reach the first landing point plus how long at cruise?

  2. Which of these is legally required preflight action under 91.103?

  3. After an accident with substantial damage, what does NTSB Part 830 require first?

Reading and practice are free. Create an account to save progress and private notes.

14 CFR 91.103 and 91.151, NTSB Part 830, and the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (public domain).