Route planning

This element is about the upstream decisions in cross-country planning: where you fly (route), through what (airspace), and with what (nav and comm). The DPE wants you to read a sectional fluently, identify airspace transitions, and know what ATC will and won't do for you on the way.

Four planning inputs: 91.103 familiarization, the chart-and-NOTAM ground truth, airspace constraints along the line, and the nav/comm system you'll actually use to fly it. Get all four right before launch.

What 91.103 requires

The regulatory anchor for everything that follows §91.103:

• (a) PIC must become familiar with all available information concerning the flight. For flights not in the vicinity of an airport, that includes weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternates if the flight cannot be completed, ATC delays, and runway lengths at airports of intended use.
• (b) PIC must compute takeoff and landing distance from the AFM/POH for the actual conditions of the flight.

The DPE probes whether you actually did each — "I checked weather" doesn't satisfy 91.103(a) on its own.

Choosing the route

Four factors drive the routing decision:

• Distance — shortest practical (direct GPS is the floor)
• Terrain and obstacles — clear with margin at the planned altitude
• Airspace — Class B/C/D, SUA, TFRs along the line
• Weather — convection, icing, ceiling, frontal positions (covered in Task C)

Start with direct GPS as the baseline. Deviate when one of the four factors makes direct unflyable. Mark the route on a sectional or EFB sectional layer with visual checkpoints every 10–20 NM, airspace transitions (entering Class C, crossing a Class B shelf, MOA boundaries), and divert airports along the way.

Charts, the Chart Supplement, and NOTAMs

Three primary sources for the planning ground truth.

Sectional charts (1:500,000)

Updated every 56 days. Show airspace boundaries (B/C/D/E) with floor/ceiling, special-use airspace (Restricted, Prohibited, MOA, Warning, Alert), airports (towered blue / non-towered magenta), topography (colored elevation bands and MEF per quadrangle), obstacles ≥ 200 AGL, VORs and airways, and visual references (roads, railways, rivers). For Class B detail, the Terminal Area Chart (TAC) at 1:250,000 zooms in.

Chart Supplement

The per-airport detail reference (formerly A/FD), updated every 56 days. Per airport: runway dimensions, lighting, traffic pattern, frequencies (CTAF, ground, tower, approach, ATIS/ASOS/AWOS), fuel availability, services, hours, and special procedures. Plus the airspace section (FSS comms, RCO frequencies) and special notices.

NOTAMs

Notices to Air Missions — temporary, time-limited:

• NOTAM-D (Distant) — airport/facility status (runway closures, lighting outages, NAV out, taxiway construction)
• NOTAM-FDC (Flight Data Center) — regulatory/procedural (TFRs, procedure changes, frequency changes, SUA activations)

FDCs are the most operationally significant for VFR — TFRs in particular. Pull from 1800wxbrief.com or an EFB; check at briefing AND recheck before departure. TFR penetration is a common cause of intercept (covered in K6).

A TFR has three geometry questions and one verdict. The geometry: where is its center, how wide is the radius, and what's the altitude band? The verdict: does your route clear the lateral edge, does it overfly the vertical ceiling, or does it penetrate both? The component below lets you pick a sample route, adjust the radius and your cruise altitude, and watch the verdict update.

The component renders three verdicts cleanly. Clear — the route stays outside the lateral radius (verdict reads emerald). Overfly — the route crosses the lateral edge but cruise altitude is above the TFR ceiling (sky verdict; legal because the TFR is a 3-D volume, not a 2-D no-fly line). Penetrate — both lateral overlap and cruise altitude inside the band; this is the one that costs you a violation or an intercept. The takeaway: a TFR check is not a yes/no question about the line on the chart — it's a 3-D geometry question about lateral overlap and altitude band and time window all at once. Treat the chart depiction as a cylinder, not a circle.

Airspace considerations

Controlled airspace requirements

• Class B — explicit clearance ("cleared into Class Bravo") + Mode C/ADS-B Out within the Mode C veil
• Class C — two-way radio comm established (callsign acknowledgment) + Mode C/ADS-B Out
• Class D — two-way radio comm established
• Class E (SFC) — VFR cloud clearance and visibility per §91.155-class-c-d-e

The Class B vs. C/D distinction matters: B requires the word "cleared"; C/D require only callsign acknowledgment. "N12345, standby" is two-way comm; "aircraft calling, standby" is not.

Special use airspace

• Prohibited (P) — never enter
• Restricted (R) — check active times; many allow VFR transit when not hot
• MOA — see-and-avoid; can transit when active but expect military jets
• Warning area — offshore equivalent of MOA
• Alert area — high training activity
• TFR — current, NOTAM-FDC-based

Best practice on MOAs: ask ATC ("is the XYZ MOA hot?") or route around active ones.

Nav, comm, and flight following

Navigation

Most modern VFR cross-countries fly with GPS as primary — panel-mount or EFB-driven, WAAS or non-WAAS. The DPE will likely fail the GPS, so have backups ready: VOR if the airplane has a working receiver (identify nearest VORs along the route), pilotage from visual checkpoints on a sectional, dead reckoning from heading and time in the nav log, and a current paper sectional or PDF in the EFB.

Comm strategy

Plan all frequencies before takeoff. Write them in the nav log AND pre-load in the radios:

• Departure — ground (if towered) → tower → departure/approach
• En route — Center or Approach for flight following
• Arrival — tower (towered) or CTAF (non-towered, typically 122.7/122.8/122.9/123.0)
• Backup/utility — FSS on 122.2, guard 121.5, ATIS/ASOS/AWOS

Flight following — what ATC will and won't do

Flight following is VFR radar advisory service: discrete squawk, traffic advisories, painted-weather vectors when workload allows, and emergency assistance. Request via Center en route or Approach near Class B/C:

"Phoenix Center, Cessna 12345, request VFR flight following from Falcon Field to Prescott, type 172, altitude 7,500."

ATC accepts or declines workload-permitting. What ATC does NOT provide for VFR: IFR-style separation, vectors through clouds, weather decisions on your behalf, or substitute for see-and-avoid §91.113. Per AIM 4-1-15, weather avoidance stays the pilot's responsibility.

When ATC issues an instruction with "remain VFR" — "turn left heading 180, remain VFR" — the instruction applies only if you can comply while staying VFR. If the heading would take you into cloud, refuse: "Unable, can't remain VFR on that heading."

Worked examples:

• KFFZ → KPRC, 75 NM direct. Sectional shows the direct line crosses one MOA (active 1500–2200Z on weekdays) and one shelf of Class B between 6,000 and 10,000 MSL. Plan: 7,500 ft cruise (below the Class B 10,000 floor), checkpoints every 15 NM, FSS on 122.2 available for en route updates, flight following from Phoenix Approach handing off to Albuquerque Center. Backup nav: paper sectional plus dead-reckoning headings in the nav log. If the MOA is hot at departure, route around the south end.
• TFR around a stadium event along your filed route. NOTAM-FDC published 36 hours before with a 4-NM radius and surface-to-3,000 AGL ceiling centered on the venue. Plan options: route around (adds about 8 NM lateral), climb above the 3,000-AGL ceiling if MEF and personal minimums permit, or delay until TFR sunset. Check NOTAMs at briefing AND recheck immediately before departure — TFRs activate and deactivate on event timing that can shift.