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AviationPilotage and dead reckoning
You fly the cross-country you planned by looking at landmarks and by flying pre-computed headings and times, checking your position and your arrival times at each checkpoint. It is Task A of Area VI, Navigation, in the FAA Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards, the checkride every private pilot flies.
Free to startThe steps
- Prepare and use a flight log.
- Navigate by pilotage.
- Navigate with pre-computed headings, groundspeeds and elapsed times, and with reference to landmarks or checkpoints.
- Use the magnetic compass in navigation, including turns to headings.
- Verify your position within three nautical miles of the planned route.
- Arrive at the en route checkpoints within five minutes of the first or revised estimated time of arrival, and give an estimate for the destination.
- Hold the selected altitude within 200 feet and heading within 15 degrees.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Any action, or lack of action, that makes the examiner step in to keep the flight safe is unsatisfactory.
- Consistently exceeding the tolerances of the task, or not correcting promptly when you exceed them, is unsatisfactory.
To pass
- Position within three nautical miles of the route, checkpoints within five minutes of the estimate, altitude within 200 feet and heading within 15 degrees.
- Know pilotage and dead reckoning, magnetic compass errors, topography, choosing the route, altitudes and checkpoints, plotting a course with heading, speed, wind correction angle, time, distance, true airspeed and density altitude, choosing the power setting, comparing planned and actual results, and the risks of collision, distractions and unplanned fuel use.
- Missing the standard on this task fails the task and its area of operation.
Official source
Federal · FAA Private Pilot ACS
Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C)
The FAA publishes the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards free: every task of the checkride with its knowledge, risks and tolerances.
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