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you should give them as you fly along your route. 

## Route Selection 

Mountain route selection is much more than drawing a straight line between your departure and destination airports and filing 

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## Flight Plans and Logs 

Your trip into the mountains will usually be VFR, dictating pilotage and dead reckoning navigation. To plan for this type of flight, you will need to prepare a log with times and headings to fly between checkpoints. This may seem like a nuisance to be used by student pilots, but it will keep you from fumbling with charts 

and guessing once in flight, possibly leading to disorientation and getting lost. 

As you plan your desired route, also consider what alternate routes or airports may be available in the event of an emergency. If the weather is marginal, make sure you have a clearly defined alterna› tive if it deteriorates to the point that you cannot continue to your destination. 

Once you’ve planned your flight, you should also file (and then activate once airborne) a flight plan with the local flight service sta› tion. If, for some reason, you must make an off airport landing, having a flight plan activated will get search crews out looking for you quickly and improve your chances of survival. If for some rea› son you must change your planned route, be sure to update your flight plan with flight service. 

"direct". A better route is usually found by follow› ing highways, river drainages, and valleys. These routes will usually be lower and offer better emer› gency landing sites. Also, you should check with • local experienced pilots if you are planning a trip 

<img src='content_image/575771.jpg'>

into an unfamiliar area to get recommendations on routes to use. 

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