VectorEFB
Menu
Request access

Guide for student pilots

First solo cross-country: a checklist for student pilots

Your first solo navigation flight is mostly decided on the ground. This is a checklist to prepare with and to check yourself against. Your instructor and your school decide when you are ready and what you may fly, and their rules and the aeroplane’s documents override anything here.

Written for training. Rules and figures differ between countries and operators, so check them against your own regulations, your school’s manual and your instructor.

For the EASA PPL(A), the course includes solo cross-country flying: at least 5 hours of solo cross-country, with at least one flight of 270 km (150 NM) that includes full-stop landings at two aerodromes other than the departure aerodrome (FCL.210.A). Your first solo navigation flight is normally a shorter one chosen by your instructor. Check the current requirements with your school.

The day before

  • Your instructor has briefed the flight and authorised it, in the way your school requires. Do not fly a solo navigation flight that has not been authorised.
  • Your licence papers and medical certificate are valid and with you.
  • The route is on a current chart, with checkpoints you can recognise from the air and the airspace marked. See how to plan a VFR cross-country flight.
  • The navigation log is done: courses, headings, groundspeeds, times and fuel for each leg. See wind correction angle and groundspeed.
  • The fuel plan is done, with an alternate and your final reserve. See VFR fuel planning and reserves.
  • Mass and balance and the take-off and landing distances are worked for the departure, the destination and the alternate, with the real fuel on board.
  • You have the destination’s details: opening hours, runway, frequency, circuit procedures, fuel availability, and any prior permission or fee. Telephone if the AIP is unclear.
  • You have read the NOTAMs and the first weather outlook, and you know what would make you cancel.
  • You are rested, you have not drunk alcohol, and you are not ill or taking medication that affects flying. See decisions, stress, alcohol and medication.

On the morning

  • Get the current METAR and TAF for the departure, the destination and the alternate, and the forecast winds for your level. Check them against your personal minimums and your school’s limits, not against the minimum the law allows. See how to read a METAR and TAF.
  • Compare the wind with your crosswind limit at both ends. See runway surface, slope and crosswind limits.
  • Check sunset against your arrival time with a good margin. A flight that might end after dark is a flight to shorten or cancel.
  • Check the airspace and the NOTAMs again. See NOTAMs and the pre-flight briefing and airspace classes and VFR minima.
  • Send or file the flight plan your school and the rules require, and tell your instructor or the school the route and your expected time of landing. See filling in an ICAO flight plan.
  • Make the go or no-go decision. If it is marginal, the answer is no. Cancelling costs you a lesson, and a bad decision can cost more.

At the aeroplane

  • Aircraft documents and the technical log are in order, and you have read the defects list.
  • You have checked the fuel by looking in the tanks, compared it with your plan, and drained the samples. The fuel is the right grade.
  • You have the charts, your navigation log, a pencil, a watch, a plotter, water and a charged phone with the school’s number. Anything you use on a tablet or phone has a paper backup.
  • You have done the checklists in the flight manual: the walk-round, the cockpit checks, the engine start and the run-up.

Departure and en route

  • Note the take-off time and the time over your first point. Set the heading and check it against the ground in the first few minutes.
  • At each checkpoint, write the actual time next to the planned time. Update the estimates, and look for the next checkpoint before you reach the one you are on.
  • Every 15 minutes, write down the time, the fuel you calculate you have left, and the gauge readings. Predict your landing fuel.
  • Keep looking outside. Most of your time should be spent looking out, with short glances at the chart and the instruments.
  • Watch the weather ahead as well as the weather where you are. Compare it with the decision points you set on the ground.
  • Use the radio as the plan and the airspace require, and ask for a flight information service if it is available.

When it starts going wrong

Decide the triggers before you fly, so you do not have to invent them in the air. Turn back or divert when the weather ahead is worse than your minimums, when the fuel will not leave your final reserve, when you are tired, or when you have been unsure of your position for too long. Pressing on is how a small problem becomes a large one.

  • Unsure of your position. Do not make random heading changes. Use the lost procedure your school taught you. Typically that means keeping a steady heading, thinking back to your last known position and the time since, looking for a large feature, and calling for help on the radio sooner rather than later. A tablet or phone with GPS is a help, not a substitute for a plan.
  • Weather closing in. Decide early, while you still have height and fuel. Turn back, divert to your alternate, or land at a suitable aerodrome. See wind, fog and visibility.
  • Engine trouble or another emergency. Fly the aeroplane first, then follow your checklists and make the call. See engine failure, fire and precautionary landings and checklists, TEM and emergencies.

Arrival and after landing

  • Get the weather and the runway in use for the destination as early as you can, and plan the join before you are close. If anything about the aerodrome is unclear, ask on the radio.
  • After landing, park and secure the aeroplane as you were taught. Check the weather again before the next leg, and treat the flight back as a new flight: weather, fuel, and the go or no-go decision.
  • If you refuel, say the amount and the unit aloud, check the grade, and check the total on the pump. Pay any landing or handling fee.
  • Close the flight plan or tell the school you have landed, as your arrangement requires. Not closing a flight plan can start a search.
  • Afterwards, debrief with your instructor. Write down what the real winds, times and fuel were next to your plan, and what you would do differently.

Where VectorEFB can help

Build the route on the map and the nav log fills in true course, wind correction, magnetic heading, groundspeed, time and fuel, which you can check against your own sums. A side view draws the terrain and obstacles near your track against your cruise altitude, and each airport page shows its latest METAR and TAF with the time. At a school that uses it, one button sends the plan to your instructor, and the flight can be recorded for the debrief. See the student page.

VectorEFB is a training and situational awareness aid. It is not certified for navigation. Do the planning yourself first, and use official charts, the AIP, NOTAMs and a proper weather briefing for real flights.

Flying as a licensed pilot? The pilot page shows the same tools.

Back to how to plan a VFR cross-country flight. All guides are listed on the guides page.

For training and situational awareness only. Not certified for navigation. Always use official charts, the AIP, NOTAMs and a proper weather briefing for real flights.