Flying Smart

Visual Checkpoints, VFR Waypoints

First solo safely behind you, you are now conducting unsupervised solos to the practice area and cross-country flight planning is in your future. You and your instructor will sit down with sectional charts, an E6B flight computer, and a plotter. You'll choose an airport and plot a course from Airport A - your home field - to Airport B, a new and exotic location many nautical miles away.

You'll look for visual checkpoints, along your route that will help you to stay on course (or alert you if you're getting off course, as the case may be). Ideally these will be easily recognized landmarks that can range from a distinctive bend in a large river, to a major highway intersection, to another airport. Your CFI will help you to differentiate between good checkpoints - those that stand out in flight and aren't easily confused with other topographic features - and poor ones. (In winter, for example, the pond or lake that you found on the chart could be frozen over or covered with snow. Railroad tracks can be difficult to spot from the air, particularly if they are overgrown with vegetation during summer months.) A favorite checkpoint of student pilots at Maryland's Frederick Municipal Airport is a large cement processing plant located some 15 miles to the northeast. Its dome-shaped silver building not only resembles an upside-down kitchen colander, but also reflects sunlight like a fair-weather beacon.

After a few practice dual cross-country trips, you'll become more comfortable with the flight planning process and more experienced at choosing good checkpoints. If you train in a Loran-, RNAV-, or GPS-equipped aircraft, your CFI may permit you to incorporate VFR waypoints, into your flight plan. Not to be confused with checkpoints, VFR waypoints use GPS technology to provide you with additional positional awareness. They're particularly helpful for guiding VFR pilots around or under busy Class B and Class C airspace. They can't be used in IFR flight plans, and they're not intended to be used as the primary or sole means of navigation.

Next month - more on VFR waypoints and how they are depicted on navigational charts.