How to Calculate Top of Climb | XC Navlog Planning

The first point on your cross country navlog is often where you reach "Top of Climb" or TOC. Here's a full tutorial on calculating this point.

[ChristopherYounger]

Excellent content. I wish I'd seen this before my PPL checkride some time ago. I got dinged for not being able to relay this information to my DPE as efficiently as this video.

In the age of the magenta line with Foreflight/Garmin, we tend to forget to understand why we need to learn the basics and be able to think through a XC navlog even when we have EFBs. Spending the time to estimate performance can clue you in to possible weather changes or problems with the aircraft early and enable you to make better decisions.

Keep the content coming!

[williamk]

I was expert on this when getting my PPL and commercial. Since then, more of an academic exercise. This is why God invented Fore Flight 🙂

[nathanwildthorn]

A perfect refresher for a rusty pilot (me). Thank you so much for this video. A medical issue sidelined me years ago, but I have spent several thousand hours flying sims (X-Plane and MSFS 2020) because I missed real-world flying so much, and I look forward to the day that I get cleared by an AME. I will be using the referenced nav sheet on all of my simulated flights from here on in. This video has made my day! Thank you, thank you, _thank_ you!

[DynamicEnergyExchange]

I haven't even finished watching this video yet and I already feel relief from knowing the steps I need to cover in order to figure out TOC.

[streptokokke]

Very nice Video again. I had an instant PPL flashback. Fortunately, this all is no longer necessary in reality.

[chakraUK]

At 5:24 - surely the GS will be a bit lower than the TAS because you are climbing and so not travelling perpendicular to the ground? Or is that discrepancy small enough that is typically ignored?

[aviatortrucker]

I find the easiest and most efficient way to find when the top of the climb is reached, and the cruise phase starts is when the altitude reaches the preplanned altitude and you level off.

[matthewbrock]

I wish you would have added surface winds and winds aloft to this video. Knowing what winds to use is my only question with the TOC

[peterg]

Can you do a video about top of descend?

[SamJoiner-oq]

For TOC...so say we are taking off runway 18 but our course is 360. Due to this, we would expect to take off and begin our climb while flying away from our heading until we make our crosswind and downwind turn towards our desired course. During that time, we have climbed over 1000ft above field elevation before we have even passed our departure airport. So for calculations, how should we adjust, or does that matter?

[chrisbruffett]

How did you get that digital plotter on the sky vector screen? That’s not a sky vector option that I can find.

[xking]

Wondering why you did nav log using 172P POH but flew in 172S ? 🙂