Aviation Toolsfor Flight Planning

These aviation tools are designed to help pilots with essential flight planning calculations. Whether you are preparing for a VFR cross-country flight or studying for your pilot license, these calculators cover the core navigation and performance calculations every pilot needs to understand.

Flight planning involves determining the route, calculating headings and ground speed based on wind, estimating fuel consumption, and ensuring safe aircraft performance. These tools automate those calculations while showing you the underlying formulas, so you can verify results and deepen your understanding of aviation navigation principles.

All distance and bearing calculations use the WGS-84 geodesic model for maximum accuracy. Performance calculations follow the ISA (International Standard Atmosphere) model. The tools work entirely offline once loaded, making them reliable for preflight planning anywhere.

Flight planning is a systematic process that ensures safe and efficient navigation from departure to destination. Every VFR pilot learns to calculate courses, correct for wind, estimate fuel requirements, and verify aircraft performance before takeoff.

Course and Heading Calculations

The foundation of flight planning starts with determining the true course between two points. This involves measuring the angle from true north to the intended track. Pilots then apply magnetic variation to convert true course to magnetic course, and finally apply wind correction angle (WCA) to determine the heading to fly. The wind correction angle compensates for crosswind drift, ensuring the aircraft tracks the desired ground path despite wind displacement.

Ground Speed and Time Estimates

Wind affects not only heading but also ground speed. A headwind component reduces ground speed below true airspeed, while a tailwind increases it. Accurate ground speed calculation is essential for estimating time en route (ETE) and fuel consumption. The flight planning tools here calculate these values using vector trigonometry, the same method taught in navigation courses worldwide.

Fuel Planning and Reserves

Safe flight planning requires careful fuel calculation. Pilots must account for taxi fuel, climb fuel, cruise fuel consumption, descent, approach, and mandatory reserves. These aviation tools help calculate fuel requirements based on flight time and fuel flow rate, though pilots should always cross-reference with their aircraft POH (Pilot Operating Handbook) for accurate fuel consumption figures at different power settings and altitudes.

Aircraft Performance Calculations

Beyond navigation, flight planning includes performance verification. Takeoff distance, climb performance, and stall speeds all vary with density altitude, aircraft weight, and configuration. The performance calculators here help estimate these values, but remember that actual performance depends on many factors including runway surface, slope, and pilot technique.

WGS-84 Geodesic Model

All distance and bearing calculations use the WGS-84 (World Geodetic System 1984) ellipsoid model. This is the same reference system used by GPS and modern aviation navigation systems. Unlike simple spherical calculations, WGS-84 accounts for Earth's true shape as an oblate spheroid, providing accuracy within meters for geodesic distance calculations anywhere on the planet.

ISA Standard Atmosphere

Performance calculations use the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) model. ISA defines standard conditions at sea level as 15°C temperature and 1013.25 hPa pressure, with temperature decreasing at 1.98°C per 1000 feet in the troposphere. This standard allows pilots to calculate density altitude and predict aircraft performance under non-standard conditions by comparing actual conditions to ISA values.

Magnetic Variation

The tools use the World Magnetic Model (WMM) to calculate magnetic variation at any location. Magnetic variation (also called declination) is the angle between true north and magnetic north, which varies by location and changes slowly over time. Accurate magnetic variation is essential for converting between true and magnetic courses in flight planning.