Marking the Halfway Point
Mark the halfway point as shown below. Also, place a distance mark every 10 nautical miles along the track line from the destination and circle all obstacles and elevations within the 10° drift lines (not shown for clarity).
Next, mark groundspeed checkpoints along the track line. Groundspeed checkpoints are used to determine your actual groundspeed. You can then compare it to your planned groundspeed. If your actual groundspeed is less than your planned groundspeed, the actual fuel required might be more than you had planned for; therefore these checkpoints are very important.
The first checkpoint should be within 10 to 15 miles from the set heading point, to give an early indication of errors in groundspeed or in the heading. Groundspeed checkpoints should be along the route of flight and easily identifiable. Select them in a similar fashion as you did the SHP. This particular cross country is very short, however for the sake of practice, let’s use the halfway point as a groundspeed checkpoint. On a longer flights you will have many more groundspeed checkpoints.
