Questions to Ask Before Planning a Flight

1. What is the purpose of this flight? (There could be more than one)
2. Do I have a choice of destination? If so, what would inform my choice?
3. What kind of weather do I want for this flight?
4. In view of the above, what day(s) (date(s)) am I looking at?
5. Would I fly at night? If yes, what additional risks am I adding?
6. If the weather is VMC, do I want to fly an approach?

Questions to Ask about each of the above Questions

1. Does having more than one purpose add to the risk? Which purpose has priority? Which purpose is the riskiest?
2. Have I flown there before? If not, what conditions do you want for the first entry?
3. What weather, weather phenomena, or winds would lead me to cancel or postpone?
4. If more than one date is possible, which is the least risky?
5. Is there a glideslope (advisory or certified) available for the landing runway? How will I handle an engine failure?
6. Why would I choose to fly an approach in VMC?

Answers for my flights on August 6: CSE4-CYSH-CSE4

1. For my own recency, competence, and confidence
2. CYSH, because I have been there many times and know it well.
3. CAVOK and light winds
4. August 6 and 7
5. No
6. Yes. CYSH RNAV 24 adds no time, so why not. CSE4 28 adds 10 minutes, but this time I want to fly it, because it is non-standard and complicated and I need the practice. I will have already flown the CYSH approach that day, so I will have had a practice run.