Pilot, Aircraft, Environment, External Pressures (PAVE)

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Pilot

Aeromedical

• Current medical certificate
• IMSAFE (Illness, medication, alcohol, stress, fatigue, emotion)

Required Experience

• Current flight review
• Day currency for taking passengers
• Night currency for taking passengers

Pilot Proficiency/Recent Experience

• Is the pilot's current level of proficiency and recent experience suitable for the mission?

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Aircraft

Maintenance

• Annual insepction
• 100-hour inspection
• Airworthiness Directives (ADs)

Required and Inoperative Equipment

• Required: 91.205
• Inoperative: 91.213

Weight & balance

• Will there be a payload?
• Will there be abnormal loading?

Fuel

• Full tanks (unless required for weight reduction)
• Day reserve: 30-min.
• Night reserve: 45-min.
• Personal reserve: 60-min.

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Environment

Weather Briefing

• If operating beyond an airport vicinity
• Flight Service: 1-800-WXBrief
• Foreflight
• Will a VFR flight plan be filed?

Weather Forecast

• TAF (departure and all destinations)
• AIRMETs/SIGMETs
• Winds aloft
• Density altitude
• Is the weather improving? Deteriorating?

Route & Destination Brief

• TFRs
• NOTAMs

Airport diagrams

• Hot spots
• Field elevation
• Runways
• Displaced/relocated threshholds

Radio frequencies

• CTAF / tower / ground / approach
• ATIS / ASOS
• Center
• Flight Service
• VORs

Route of flight

• True course -> True heading -> Magnetic heading -> Compass heading
• Hemispheric altitude selection (0-179, 180-359) (VFR +500)
• Terrain considerations
• Airspace considerations: departure, en route, destination
• Special Use Airspace (SUA)
• Total distance, leg distances, leg times
• Departure information
• Top of climb calculation
• VFR & IFR checkpoints
• Top of descent calculation (vertical distance to pattern-entry leg) (TPA x 3)
• Arrival information
• Fuel burn
• Alternate airports

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External Pressures

• Has time been added to the schedule in case of delays?
• Do any passengers have time-based expectations?
• Do realistic expectations need to be set with anyone at the destination?
• Is everyone prepared to remain at the destination longer than expected?
• Have passengers with time-expectations considered alternate means of travel? (Driving, airline flight, etc.)
• Will anyone (including you) be disappointed if the flight does not reach the destination as planned?
• Will anyone (including you) be disappointed if the flight is canceled?