How to Plan a
VFR Cross-Country
Pick the route, build the navigation log, work the wind triangle, plan fuel and reserves, clear the airspace, brief the weather, and file — every step of a VFR cross-country, in order.
What VFR Cross-Country Planning Is
A cross-country flight is simply a flight to a point away from your departure airport — for student and certificate currency purposes, a landing more than 50 nautical miles away. Planning one means turning “I want to fly from A to B” into a concrete navigation log: headings to fly, times for each leg, fuel to burn, and the decisions you have already made before the wheels leave the ground.
Why bother when GPS will draw the line for you? Because preflight planning is what keeps you ahead of the airplane. You will have caught the restricted area on your course, the mountain pass that demands a higher altitude, the airport that closes at dusk, and the fuel stop you needed — on the ground, with time to think, instead of in the cockpit at 120 knots.
1. Pick the Route & Study the Charts
Lay your course on a current sectional chart (or its digital equivalent) and read everything it is telling you before you commit.
Terrain & obstacles
Note the highest terrain and obstacles along the route and pick an altitude that clears them with margin. Plan a route you can glide clear of, and avoid threading narrow passes if a higher line over them is available.
Airspace & navaids
Identify the Class B, C, and D airspace, MOAs, restricted and prohibited areas, and special-use airspace your course touches. Mark VORs and other navaids near the route as backups to pilotage and GPS.
Suitable airports & alternates
Line up airports along the route for fuel and as outs if the weather or the airplane gives you a reason to land. Confirm runway length, fuel availability, and hours of operation — not every field is open or attended when you need it.
2. Checkpoints, True Course & Distance
Break the route into legs between checkpoints — prominent, unmistakable features roughly every 10 to 20 nautical miles: a town, an airport, a highway-railroad crossing, a river bend, or a lake. They let you confirm your position by pilotage and check whether your dead-reckoning times are holding up.
For each leg, measure the true course with a plotter against the sectional’s meridians, and measure the distance against the latitude scale or the plotter’s nautical-mile edge. These two numbers per leg are the backbone of the navigation log.
3. Winds Aloft, Heading & Groundspeed
Wind moves the airplane over the ground, so you crab into it to track your course. The wind triangle, worked on an E6B, converts your true course into a heading to fly and a groundspeed to plan with.
From true course to compass heading
Inputs
True course (off the chart)
True airspeed & winds aloft
Variation (isogonic lines)
Deviation (compass card)
Output chain
True course + WCA = true heading
− variation = magnetic heading
− deviation = compass heading
Groundspeed × distance = ETE
Memory aid: True Virtually Makes Dull Compass (True, Variation, Magnetic, Deviation, Compass).
The wind correction angle gives you the heading; the groundspeed for each leg, divided into the leg distance, gives the estimated time en route. Multiply ETE by your fuel burn and you have the fuel for the leg.
4. Fuel Planning & Reserves
Add up the fuel for each leg, plus taxi, runup, climb, and any expected holding or vectoring. Then apply the regulatory reserve. Under 14 CFR 91.151, a VFR flight may not begin unless it can reach the first point of intended landing and then fly, at normal cruise, at least 30 minutes by day or 45 minutes at night.
Treat that as a floor, not a goal. A 1-hour personal reserve, plus margin for a headwind or a diversion, keeps the legal minimum from becoming your actual landing fuel.
5. Weight, Balance & Performance
Run a weight and balance for the loaded airplane and confirm the center of gravity stays within limits for the whole flight, including as fuel burns off. Then pull takeoff and landing distances from the POH for the actual conditions at each airport.
On a hot day at a high-elevation field, density altitude stretches your ground roll and flattens your climb dramatically. Plan against the real numbers, not sea-level book figures, and make sure the runway you are using has the margin you need.
Density altitude is its own deep topic — see how to calculate density altitude for the formula and a worked example.
6. Pick a Cruising Altitude
Choose an altitude that clears terrain, gives a useful glide and radio range, and rides favorable winds — then make it legal with the hemispheric rule.
Eastbound (0°–179° magnetic)
Above 3,000 ft AGL, fly an odd thousand plus 500: 3,500, 5,500, 7,500…
Westbound (180°–359° magnetic)
Above 3,000 ft AGL, fly an even thousand plus 500: 4,500, 6,500, 8,500…
This is the VFR cruising-altitude rule of 14 CFR 91.159, applied to magnetic course in level cruise more than 3,000 feet above the surface.
7. Airspace, NOTAMs & TFRs
Re-walk the airspace with a plan for each piece you will enter: who to call, what clearance or equipment you need, and where the floors and ceilings sit. Then check NOTAMs for closed runways, out-of-service navaids, and lighting outages, and check for temporary flight restrictions — stadium TFRs, VIP movement, and firefighting areas can appear right across your route.
Know your VFR weather minimums for each class of airspace too — see VFR weather minimums by airspace.
8. Get a Weather Briefing
Brief the whole route, not just the departure airport. Pull METARs and TAFs for departure, en route, and destination fields; the area forecast and winds and temperatures aloft for your altitude; and any AIRMETs or SIGMETs for turbulence, icing, IFR conditions, or convection.
The winds aloft you brief here feed straight back into the wind triangle — if the forecast wind is different from what you planned with, your headings, times, and fuel all move. A briefing is also where a no-go decision gets made on the ground.
9. File, Activate & Close the Flight Plan
A VFR flight plan is optional, but it is your search-and-rescue insurance. File your route, altitude, true airspeed, and estimated time en route with Flight Service, then activate it once airborne so the clock starts.
The critical step pilots forget: close it on arrival. The FAA will not close a VFR flight plan for you, and an open, overdue plan triggers a search. Close it by radio or phone the moment you are down and stopped.
Let the nav log build itself
FlightKit’s Route Planner builds the navigation log automatically — it routes around airspace, pulls the winds aloft, and returns your headings, leg times, fuel, and top-of-descent, ready to fly.
Keep learning
Frequently Asked Questions
How much fuel reserve does VFR require?
Under 14 CFR 91.151, a VFR flight cannot begin unless there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, at normal cruise speed, still fly at least 30 minutes during the day or 45 minutes at night. That is a legal minimum, not a planning target — most pilots add a 1-hour personal reserve plus extra for wind, holding, or a diversion.
True course or magnetic course — which do I use?
You measure true course off the sectional with a plotter, because the chart is drawn to true north. To get a heading you can fly on the compass, apply wind correction to get true heading, then correct for magnetic variation (the isogonic lines on the chart) to get magnetic heading, and finally for compass deviation (from the aircraft’s compass correction card) to get the compass heading. The memory aid is True → Virtually → Makes → Dull → Compass (Variation, Magnetic, Deviation).
Do I have to file a VFR flight plan?
No. A VFR flight plan is not required by regulation for a normal cross-country (IFR flight plans are required in controlled airspace under IFR). It is strongly recommended, though: if you file and activate one, Flight Service knows your route and timing and will start search-and-rescue if you do not close it. You must still close it on arrival, because the FAA does not close it automatically.
What altitude should I fly VFR?
Above 3,000 feet AGL in level cruise, 14 CFR 91.159 sets hemispheric rule altitudes by magnetic course: on an easterly course (0° to 179°) fly an odd thousand plus 500 (3,500, 5,500, 7,500…), and on a westerly course (180° to 359°) fly an even thousand plus 500 (4,500, 6,500…). Also weigh terrain and obstacle clearance, winds aloft, cloud clearance, oxygen requirements, and glide range over inhospitable terrain.
How many checkpoints should I use on a cross-country?
Enough that you can confirm your position roughly every 10–20 nautical miles, and more frequently in congested or featureless terrain. Good checkpoints are prominent and unmistakable from the air — a town, a highway-railroad crossing, a bend in a river, an airport, or a lake. Avoid features that are easy to confuse with their neighbors.
How do I find the wind correction angle and groundspeed?
Use the wind triangle (a manual or electronic E6B). Enter your true course, true airspeed, and the winds aloft for your altitude; the computer returns the wind correction angle to crab into the wind, the resulting true heading, and your groundspeed. Groundspeed and leg distance then give the estimated time en route and the fuel burned for each leg.