Explanation of the Flight Card (to be supplied prior to the flight)
The first column shows the waypoints as shown on the VFR Maps.
LSALT: This is the Lowest Safe Altitude. Which involves reviewing 10nm either side of Track and noting the highest elevations. Then finally adding 1,000’.
ALT: The planned cruising altitude based on observing the ODD +500’ for travelling East and EVEN+500’ for travelling West.
TAS: This is the True Airspeed for the C172
TRK: This is the direct track to the next waypoint.
WIND: This is the reported wind for the area of the waypoint, reported in Direction and Speed. (currently blank)
HDG: This is the adjusted heading to track, based on the reported winds. THIS IS THE HEADING YOU FOLLOW FOR THE EVENT (currently same as TRK).
GS: This is the calculated Ground Speed, based on the reported winds.
DIST: This is the distance to the next waypoint.
ETI: This is the time to the next waypoint, based on the calculated ground speed. THIS IS WHAT YOU USE TO TIME WITH THE STOP WATCH.
EET: This is the elapsed time during the route to each of the waypoint.
ETA: This is the Estimated Time based on when we planned to take off.
FR: This is the remaining fuel based on a starting amount of 160 ltrs (see the fuel sheet for details of usage along the route).
160: This is the fuel figure at the start of our flight - 160 lts. The amount of fuel at our landing airport is also listed for reference.
REV: This allows us to enter revised fuel figures along the route.
ATA: This is the Actual Time you record when reaching the waypoint. Example if we took off at 0900z and it took you 19 minutes to get to the first waypoint, you would enter 0919.
These are the only fields that are important for the event.
I will issue the Flight Card, with all this information once I get up to date weather just prior to the event.