Guided path
Plan a VFR cross-country
The decisions behind a visual cross-country in the order you make them: the airspace you will cross, the minima you fly to, the fuel you carry, the alternate you keep in reserve, and the wind across the runway at each end.
8 guides in order
- Operations
Airspace classes explained
The ICAO airspace classes A to G, the service and separation each one provides, and how the US, Europe and the UK implement the same letters differently.
6 min read Read - Regulations
VFR weather minima and cruising levels
The visibility and distance-from-cloud minima for visual flight, and the semicircular cruising-level rule, with the ICAO, EASA and FAA figures attributed.
4 min read Read - Regulations
Fuel planning and reserves
Why a flight carries more fuel than the trip needs: the ICAO baseline, the FAA's VFR and IFR reserves, and EASA's general-aviation and commercial schemes.
8 min read Read - Briefing
Choosing an alternate aerodrome
When an alternate is required, the FAA 1-2-3 rule and alternate minimums, the EASA planning-minima approach, and the practical weather and runway checks.
8 min read Read - Operations
Crosswind components
How to resolve a wind into crosswind and headwind components, a worked example, the sine rule of thumb, and what a demonstrated crosswind really is.
4 min read Read - Operations
Minimum safe altitudes: MSA, MORA, MEA, MOCA and MEF
The family of minimum altitudes that keep you clear of terrain and obstacles, what each one guarantees, and which also promise a usable navigation signal.
5 min read Read - Operations
The 250-knot limit and other airspace speed rules
Why a 250-knot limit applies below 10,000 feet, the slower 200-knot limits near busy airspace, and how the FAA and EASA wordings line up and differ.
6 min read Read - Operations
The traffic circuit
The legs of the circuit or traffic pattern, why most are flown left-hand, and the difference between the UK overhead join and the US 45-degree entry.
7 min read Read