VFR navigation for hire: the plan, the radar, and being lost

Terrain in the plan, the power setting and the check of planned against actual, radar services and the transponder, the electronic flight bag, choosing a diversion airport, and what to do and whom to call when lost.

16 min read · Commercial operations

After this lesson you can

  • Use topography in planning and pilotage, and choose a cruise power setting from the performance chart rather than from habit.
  • Compare planned groundspeed, time and fuel against actual at each checkpoint and correct the rest of the plan.
  • Describe radar assistance to VFR aircraft, the transponder modes, ADS-B, and the limits of ATC services.
  • Select a diversion airport, record times over waypoints, and know when to ask for help or declare an emergency.
  • State what an interception looks like and what the intercepted pilot does.

A commercial pilot navigates with a passenger who paid to arrive, which changes nothing about the method and everything about the pressure. The Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge's navigation chapter is written for the private pilot; the commercial standard asks the same knowledge to be applied under load, with the airplane's performance chosen deliberately, the plan checked against reality, and the help available known before it is needed.

This lesson follows the flight: the terrain in the plan, the power setting, the checkpoint arithmetic, the radar and the transponder that let ATC see you, the electronic flight bag, the diversion, and the lost procedure the handbook lays out step by step.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.Topography: the terrain is part of the route
  2. 2.Power setting: chosen from the chart, then verified
  3. 3.Planned versus actual: the check at every checkpoint
  4. 4.Radar services, the transponder, and what ATC cannot do
  5. 5.The electronic flight bag, and the autopilot, en route
  6. 6.Diversion: choosing the airport
  7. 7.Lost: the procedure, the help, and the moment to call it an emergency
  8. 8.Interception: if a military aircraft appears on your wing

These 8 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the CPL track. Paid once, yours for good.

See what the CPL track costsEvery module 1 is free to read, no account, no card.

Key terms

Try to recall each definition before turning the card.