Fuel, wind, altitude, and the numbers behind your next flight.
FLIGHT COMPUTER
Use usable fuel and aircraft POH fuel flow. Reserve is your input, not a determination of legal minimums. Add fuel for alternate, climb, delays, and other requirements separately.
Trip fuel = flow x flight time + taxi fuel. Required fuel = trip fuel + chosen reserve. Endurance excludes taxi fuel and the chosen reserve.
Educational estimates, not a certified flight computer. Independently verify results against your aircraft POH/AFM, current weather, and approved planning sources before flight.
An E6B calculation is only as useful as its inputs. Aircraft performance data, wind forecasts, consistent units, and realistic reserves matter more than the number of decimal places in a result.
Groundspeed determines how long a leg takes. Fuel flow determines consumption over that time. Fuel for starting, taxiing, climbing, alternates, delays, and reserves can change the total substantially. Usable fuel is not necessarily the same as tank capacity.
Heading is where the nose points; track is the path over the ground. Crosswind creates drift, while the along-track wind changes groundspeed. A wind triangle connects these quantities. Mixing true and magnetic directions can make an otherwise correct calculation wrong.
Hotter, less dense air affects lift, engine power, and propeller performance. Density altitude puts that air density on a standard-atmosphere altitude scale. It is not a substitute for the aircraft's takeoff, landing, and climb charts.
Knots are nautical miles per hour. US gallons and Imperial gallons are not interchangeable. Fuel weight requires density as well as volume. Glide and turn calculations use simplified conditions and cannot establish terrain clearance or an aircraft operating limit.
An E6B combines a circular slide rule with a wind-triangle solver. Its calculations cover time, speed, distance, fuel, wind correction, altitude, airspeed, and unit conversions. Electronic calculators perform the arithmetic, but the pilot still needs correct aircraft data and consistent units.
Pressure altitude references standard atmospheric pressure. Density altitude also accounts for temperature: it describes the altitude in the standard atmosphere with the same air density. Warm air generally increases density altitude. The dry-air calculation here excludes humidity and does not predict takeoff distance or climb performance.
The endurance result on this page subtracts the taxi fuel and reserve entered by the user. The trip-fuel result includes both. Neither result checks compliance with fuel regulations or automatically adds alternate, contingency, or climb fuel. A reserve appropriate to one aircraft or operation may be insufficient for another.
Wind-triangle calculations use true course and true wind direction. Runway wind components require wind and runway heading in the same reference. METAR wind directions are true; runway numbers represent rounded magnetic headings. Wind direction means where the wind comes from, not where it is going.
Not necessarily. Calibrated airspeed is indicated airspeed corrected for instrument and position errors using aircraft-specific data. True airspeed additionally depends on atmospheric conditions. The airspeed tool uses CAS and static outside air temperature with a subsonic pressure model.
These calculators are free and require no account, but they are not FAA approved or certified flight-planning equipment. They are educational estimates. Before flight, verify calculations independently using aircraft POH/AFM data, current official weather, and appropriate approved sources.
Independent educational tools from Pilot Training Tracker. FAA references do not imply FAA endorsement.
