Flight planning

Flight planning is the process of producing a flight plan to describe a proposed aircraft flight. It involves two safety-critical aspects fuel calculation, to ensure that the aircraft can safely reach the destination, and compliance with air traffic control requirements, to minimize the risk of mid-air collision. Flight plans use an unusual mixture of metric and non-metric units of measurement.  

In addition, planners normally wish to minimize flight cost by appropriate choice of route, height, and speed, and by loading the minimum necessary fuel on board. Flight planning requires accurate weather forecasts so that fuel consumption calculations can account for the fuel consumption effects of head or tail winds and air temperature. 

The particular units used may vary by aircraft, by airline, and by location. A route is a description of the path followed by an aircraft when flying between airports. Most commercial flights will travel from one airport to another, but private aircraft, commercial sightseeing tours, and military aircraft may often do a circular or out-and-back trip and land at the same airport from which they took off.

Some commercial airlines have their own internal flight planning system, while others employ the services of external planners. The particular units used may vary by aircraft and by location. A route is a description of the path followed by an aircraft when flying between airports. Tracks across northern oceans are suitable for east-west or which constitute the bulk of the traffic in these areas.