Today's weather is poor. Set in 1500 ft. overcast with a visibility of 3 miles. Start the timer at the beginning of your takeoff roll. Depart from The Gabreski airport, KFOK, on Long Island, New York, using Rwy 33. Your destination is Meriden, Connecticut, KMMK. Tune in the Meriden NDB"MMK"on 238 kHz. On departure turn right to the 001° bearing to MMK, 41 nm. distant. You may not receive the MMK NDB until three or four minutes after departure. Climb to 3000 ft. Your flight time will be 25 minutes at 110 kts. cruise. Fifteen minutes into the flight begin a 500 fpm descent, maintaining 110 kts. Slow to approach speed on reaching 1000 ft., 500 ft. below the overcast. Continue tracking inbound on the 001° bearing until sighting the airport and Rwy 36 then execute a visual landing. Field elevation is 101 ft.
Same route, same weather, but the wind has picked up. It's now 30 kts from 310°. The Magnetic Variation at The Gabreski is 14° W so add 14° to the wind direction for the value to enter into FS2000 or FS2002, thus 324° at 30 kts. Note: prior to starting your takeoff roll your airspeed indicator will read about 28 kts. That is from the strong surface headwind which will considerably shorten your takeoff run (but lengthen the flight).
Hopefully, by now you have downloaded and installed the Virtual E6-B Computer. If so, here are the numbers that you should have calculated for climb (90 kts IAS) and Cruise (110 kts IAS):
Total Distance of flight | 41 NM |
Time to climb to 3000 ft @ 700 fpm | 4.2 minutes |
Ground speed during climb | 68 kts |
WCA During Climb | 15° L |
Magnetic Hdg during Climb | 346° |
Distance during climb | 5 NM |
Distance for Cruise & Descent | 36 NM |
Ground Speed during Cruise & Descent | 89 kts |
WCA during Cruise & Descent | 12° L |
Magnetic Hdg during Cruise & Descent | 349° |
Time to Cruise 36 NM at 89 kts | 24 minutes |
Total Time En Route | 28 minutes |
With these numbers, now proceed as in the previous flight.
NOTE: Obviously one doesn't descend at 110 kts all the way to the runway threshold, but slows to enter the traffic pattern. Adding five minutes to the calculated ETE gives a good approximation of your actual flight time.