A navigation flight plan is a crucial document for pilots, detailing essential information for the safe operation of an aircraft during a flight. This plan also serves as a navigation log while in the air. It may include important data about mass and balance relevant to the journey. Pilots can create a navigation flight plan either by hand or using computer software.
When completed manually, a pilot fills out fields on a printed form. For standard routes, some details may be pre-printed on the flight plan to save time. Various commercial companies, like Jeppesen, provide navigation flight plans under contract. These plans often come with a summary to help complete the ATC flight plan, along with aeronautical and meteorological information packages. Additionally, software is available for creating flight plans on portable devices.
The navigation flight plan summarizes the flight and includes key information as required by the operator. Some examples of this information are: aircraft registration, critical weights (like empty weight, passenger or freight weight, and all-up weight at take-off and landing), total flight time, total fuel needed, alternate airfield details, and alternate fuel requirements, including the route from the destination, altitude, Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA), time, and fuel.
The navigation log contains detailed information relevant to the flight, as specified in the operator’s Operations Manual. If necessary, additional information can be added. The flight plan will have blank sections where pilots can enter extra data during the flight, marked by square brackets [ ] below: route (including the name of the air route and way-point descriptions), planned level, Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA), track, wind conditions, heading, distance, Indicated Airspeed (IAS), Outside Air Temperature (OAT), True Airspeed (TAS), groundspeed, elapsed time, Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), [Amended ETA], [Actual Time of Arrival], estimated fuel remaining, and [Actual Fuel Remaining].
