Questions to Ask Before Planning a Flight
- What is the purpose of this flight? (There could be more than one)
- Do I have a choice of destination? If so, what would inform my choice?
- What kind of weather do I want for this flight?
- In view of the above, what day(s) (date(s)) am I looking at?
- Would I fly at night? If yes, what additional risks am I adding?
- If the weather is VMC, do I want to fly an approach?
Questions to Ask about each of the above Questions
- Does having more than one purpose add to the risk? Which purpose has priority? Which purpose is the riskiest?
- Have I flown there before? If not, what conditions do you want for the first entry?
- What weather, weather phenomena, or winds would lead me to cancel or postpone?
- If more than one date is possible, which is the least risky?
- Is there a glideslope (advisory or certified) available for the landing runway? How will I handle an engine failure?
- Why would I choose to fly an approach in VMC?
Answers for my flights on August 6: CSE4-CYSH-CSE4
- For my own recency, competence, and confidence
- CYSH, because I have been there many times and know it well.
- CAVOK and light winds
- August 6 and 7
- No
- 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.