Introduction

This chapter provides an introduction to cross-country
flying under visual flight rules (VFR). It contains practical
information for planning and executing cross-country flight for the beginning pilot.

Air navigation is the process of piloting an aircraft from
one geographic position to another while monitoring one’s position as the flight progresses. It introduces the need for planning, which includes plotting the course on an aeronautical chart, selecting checkpoints, measuring
distances, obtaining pertinent weather information, and
computing flight time, headings, and fuel requirements.

The methods used in this chapter include pilotage
navigating by reference to visible landmarks, dead
reckoning computations of direction and distance from a
known position, and radio navigation by use of radio aids.