Enter checkpoints, courses, and winds aloft. Every column a checkride nav log needs (WCA, headings, groundspeed, ETE, ETA, fuel) computes as you type, then prints as a clean textbook-format sheet with blank Actual rows for flight.
The first checkpoint row measures from here
From the TAS calculator or POH
Drives the fuel-remaining column
At the cruise burn above
West positive, east negative
From the deviation card (optional)
Local or Zulu; ETAs use the same clock
| Checkpoint | Alt | Wind | TC | WCA | TH | Var | MH | CH | Leg NM | Rem NM | GS | ETE | ETA | Fuel | Fuel rem |
|---|
This builds the full navigation log a checkride expects: every checkpoint leg solved from true course to compass heading, with groundspeed, ETE, ETA, and a running fuel column. Enter the legs you measured on the chart and the forecast winds aloft; the math updates as you type. The print button produces a clean landscape sheet in the standard training-log format, with an empty Actual row under every leg for times and groundspeeds you measure in flight. Your entries stay on this device.
The Private Pilot ACS cross-country planning task (FAA-S-ACS-6C, Task I.D) asks for a navigation log computed from real winds aloft, and examiners tend to probe the same things:
| Column | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| TC (true course) | Measured on the sectional against a meridian |
| WCA | arcsin(wind speed × sin(wind direction − course) ÷ TAS); the crab that holds the course line |
| TH | TC + WCA |
| Var | From the isogonic line on the chart; east is least (subtract), west is best (add) |
| MH | TH with variation applied |
| Dev | The compass deviation card in your aircraft |
| CH | MH with deviation applied: the number you actually fly |
| GS | TAS × cos(WCA) − wind speed × cos(wind direction − course) |
| ETE / ETA | Leg distance ÷ GS, chained from the departure time |
| Fuel | Burn rate × leg time; the remaining column starts at usable fuel |
Winds aloft are entered per leg because the forecast changes along a route and with altitude; short trips can repeat one wind. Climb performance is worse than cruise in every column, so many instructors log the climb to the first checkpoint as its own leg with a lower groundspeed and a higher burn, or simply note the POH's fuel-to-climb figure on top. This tool computes at your cruise numbers; treat the first-leg estimate as optimistic if it includes the climb.
A Cessna 172 (110 kt TAS, 9.5 GPH, 38 gal usable, 17° east variation) flies Renton (KRNT) → Forks (S18) → Ocean Shores (W04) → back to KRNT, departing 12:00:00Z. Load it with the button above and print it to see the sheet:
Those headings and times match the flight-computer manual's published answers. On the printed sheet each of those lines gets an empty Actual row beneath it.
The print button uses your browser's print dialog, so "Save as PDF" works everywhere and a real printer gets a landscape letter sheet. The printout carries the header block (pilot, date, aircraft, route, constants), the full log grid, your frequencies box, and the fuel summary. In flight: start the clock over each checkpoint, write the actual time in the Actual row, and compare. If the first two legs run slow, every later ETA and the fuel-at-destination number just told you something the forecast didn't.
Common QuestionsThere's no mandated form. Examiners expect the columns every training log shares: checkpoints, altitude, winds, TC, WCA, TH, variation, MH, deviation, CH, distance, groundspeed, ETE, ETA, and fuel, with totals and a reserve. The ACS cross-country task (FAA-S-ACS-6C, Task I.D) requires a nav log computed from real winds aloft, and you should be able to explain where any number came from. This page prints exactly that column set.
Roughly 10 to 15 NM is the common training guidance: close enough that a missed checkpoint gets noticed within a few minutes, far enough that you aren't heads-down constantly. Pick features you can identify from the air (a river crossing a road, a distinctively shaped town, an airport) and give each one its own line.
Planned groundspeed is a forecast; the time between two checkpoints is a measurement. One or two filled Actual rows tell you whether the winds are as forecast, and every later ETA and the fuel remaining move with that answer. That estimate-versus-actual habit is exactly what the cross-country portion of a checkride is probing.
From the sectional chart with a plotter, or from your EFB's route view. Measure the true course against a meridian (not the compass rose of a VOR) and the distance of each straight segment between checkpoints. Turn points are where the course changes, and each one starts a new line.
The wind that slowed you outbound helps you home, but not symmetrically: the crosswind portion costs groundspeed in both directions (you crab both ways), so a round trip in wind always takes longer than the same trip in calm air. Never plan a round trip assuming the tailwind gives back what the headwind took.
For a checkride, plan on it: most examiners want the planning done by hand at least once, and paper keeps working when the tablet overheats or dies. Afterward it becomes a backup and a cross-check. The estimating-and-verifying discipline is worth keeping either way.
The TAS constant this log needs, from CAS, altitude, and temperature.
The other sheet the examiner asks for: loading and CG.
Check the trip's fuel total against your tanks and reserve.
FlightDecide checks the weather, NOTAMs, fuel, performance, and W&B for your specific route and window, scores it GO, CAUTION, or NO GO, and shows the raw data behind every call.
Get FlightDecide on the App StoreEducational tool for flight-planning practice. It is advisory only and not a substitute for your POH, an official weather briefing, or your own judgment as pilot in command (14 CFR 91.3). Sources: FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25C), Ch. 16; FAA Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), Task I.D. Last reviewed: August 26, 2026.