Flight Planning Importance
The safety and success of every flight depends on the preparation of the flight plan whether it is just a local flight or a 500 mile cross-country trip. Before you can hope to spend hours airborne, learning how to prepare for a flight is essential. Flight planning is an essential part of life for pilots – not securing a reliable planning system can spell trouble either during flight or upon landing. Our airways today are more crowded than they have ever been in the history of commercial flying and so services which support our pilots must be extremely reliable in order to ensure the safety of all involved.
Facing Challenges
When we consider all of the many aspects a good flight plan involves, perhaps the most important is the issue of fuel planning. Pilots need to ensure safety with the knowledge that their craft is supplied with plenty of fuel; enough to make the scheduled journey and also enough to include any emergencies which may occur. Weather can be unreliable, especially when crossing continents and predictions cannot be accurate 100% of the time, this is part of the reason that extra fuel must be accounted for. As aircrafts flight capabilities are affected by wind speed, the weather is a very important factor in flight planning. Other factors that pilots should take into account are extra passengers and excess luggage or cargo which may either weigh more than anticipated or have been loaded at the last minute. Extra weight can seriously affect an aircraft’s fuel consumption and so forward thinking and extra allowances are extremely important.
Other Flight Planning Extras
Finding an alternative airport is an important factor that needs to be considered with good flight planning; there are many situations where a different airport other than the original is needed. Emergencies on the ground are an uncommon but potential source of disruption which can make an alternative landing destination a much needed option. Although rare, the situations which could make landing at the first choice of airport necessary include security emergencies, fire and evacuation due to natural disaster. More usual causes of aircraft being unable to land are bad weather which causes visibility problems and also simple technical problems with lighting or power. Because alternative airports need to be a significant distance from the original choice due to the common cause of weather difficulties, the need for extra fuel is vital. Circling above the alternative airport is another factor to consider when working out an extra fuel allowance as an unexpected or unscheduled landing may disrupt other airport systems. Flight planning needs to be very detailed to cover all eventualities.