Building an IFR Flight Plan

"I filed direct" - Everyone. Everywhere. Everytime.

Generating an IFR flight plan is part art and part logic. It is highly dependent on your geographical area (mountainous, coastal, etc.), and how far you are willing to travel to fly pre-checked routes vs. "direct". Here is what I teach my students.

Scroll to the very end of this article for the quick step-by-step process that I use.

I recommend pilots plan their route on SkyVector.com. It's so simple, so quick to use, and is extremely user-friendly (trust me, I have a PhD in this stuff) for planning purposes. My favorite feature is the quick picture-in-picture view of approach plates. It's free, it's easy, and it's solid.

My flight plans are based on the following factors:

1. Altitude

I almost exclusively fly airways. As long as it doesn't add an absurd amount of distance. The reason I do this is that airways often guarantee lower altitudes compared to the off route obstruction clearance altitude (OROCA). Airways are "cut-outs" in the terrain that allow you to fly without worrying (too much) about obstacles. So if you can, fly airways!

2. Navigation Redundancy

I trust my GPS. And trust GPS integrity way more than VOR integrity. I experienced an unplanned VOR outage at least twice in the local area. Nevertheless, I like to fly Victor airways because they offer me both GPS and VOR navigation. Two is better than one.

3. Loss of Communication

When you lose communications in IMC, you need to follow specific guidelines to fly laterally (AVEF) and vertically (MEA). Remember the acronmys, right?

For lateral navigation, fly these in order:

1. Assigned

2. Vectored

3. Expected

4. Filed

For vertical navigation, fly the highest of these, for the longest time possible:

1. Minimum Enroute Altitude (MEA)

2. Expected

3. Assigned

After you squawk 7600, ATC starts scrambling trying to figure out what your plan is and how you will land. That is the "E" in the acronyms. But that may involve hypotheticals. In terms of lateral navigation, you situation will most probably come own to "FILED". If you filed direct, with no granularity, you are not helping yourself or ATC very much.

When I file a flight plan, I ALWAYS file to an Initial Approach Fix (IAF). This covers your basis all the way to (4) - filed. By filing to an IAF, ATC can always expect me to fly the approach that begins with that fix.

4. Direction of Travel

Many ATC systems pick up your first route waypoint as the direction of travel. For example, check out this short flight plan out of Savannah, GA:

Notice how to join V37, I filed KSAV to SAV. Although that is necessary to fly a VOR-only aircraft, SAV is actually to the North of KSAV, and my route is southbound. The ATC computers will interpret that as a northbound departure, because that is the first waypoint on your route. Is that a biggie? No. But, you can expect a weirder clearance from ATC. They would for example give you "radar vectors" to some fix on V37 and then "as filed". So if you expect a fast "cleared to destination as filed", you may not get that unless you account for this. I like to help ATC when I can, so I apply this little piece of information.

5. Preferred Routes

When possible, it's always good to fly preferred ATC routes. To search for these - the easy way, click on this FAA link. Here is an example from KLAX to KVNY:

6. Alternate Location

If I need an alternate per IFR, I chose an airport on my planned route. This way I can fly over it and visually see what the weather looks like. It may of course change by the time I need to fly back, but it's nevertheless an extra variable that can aid decision making.

Step-by-Step

1. Big Picture. Plot a straight line from origin to destination. This gives you an idea of where you're going, what terrain and airspaces you're encountering, and so forth.

2. Departure Procedures. Observe if there is a Standard Instrument Departure (SID) that works for you. If you haven't covered those yet in your training, don't worry about it. But all pilots should review Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODPs) and SIDs. If you wish to fly a SID, look at your transitions and direction of travel.

   1. Does it point you in the direction you like?

   2. Is there a convenient transition? Remember, transitions are "doors". In the case of SIDs, a transition is where you leave the SID and enter the enroute world.

   3. Are you even authorized to fly it? Read the notes! May be for turbojet only!

   4. If you like it, add it to your route. You will need to FILE it if you want to fly it. SIDs are sometimes assigned by ATC, so if you want a specific one, ask for it by filing it!

   5. SIDs are runway based, so the instructions may change when you are assigned a runway. If there are multiple runways, ask clearance what runway they expect you to depart from, so that you can review the SID calmly in your parking spot. Both the EFB and the GPS unit in your airplane will ask you to load a runway, so you won't forget :)

3. Airways. I almost exclusively fly airways, if there are any. Look if there is a convenient airway that gets you to your destination. Remember that Victor airways are defined "VOR to VOR", so look at VORs to find convenient airways. Then choose:

   1. An appropriate entry point (how to hop on the airway). Remember that if you don't have GPS, you can only hop on an airway at the VOR.

   2. An appropriate exit point.

   3. Rarely will one single airway get you all the way there. You will probably have to get off an airway and onto another.

4. Arrival. A Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) is the opposite of a SID. I rarely fly one with small airplanes, but it's possible to get one. You can file one if you want, up to you. If you go to busy airspaces (e.g., Atlanta class B), you may be assigned a STAR. So it doesn't hurt to look ahead for what you could be assigned.

5. Approach. As mentioned earlier, I always file to an Initial Approach Fix (IAF). That way, my flight plan ends (before the destination) with a transition to the terminal world.