Precise calculators for student pilots, CFIs, and experienced aviators. No account needed — create one to save your work.
CG, total moment, and full loadout breakdown.
LivePA from altimeter setting, DA from OAT and ISA.
LiveHeadwind and crosswind from any wind report.
LivePlan fuel load with reserves and alternates.
LiveEstimate cloud base from OAT and dewpoint.
LiveMax glide range from altitude and glide ratio.
LiveRequired rate of climb/descent for any gradient.
LiveDirect, teardrop, or parallel entry from any heading.
LiveConvert headings and courses using variation and deviation.
LivePaste raw weather reports for plain-English breakdowns.
LiveTAS, wind correction, time/distance/fuel, and more.
LiveCockpitCalc covers the arithmetic that shows up in real preflight planning: will the airplane be inside its weight and CG envelope, how will it perform at today's density altitude, is the crosswind within limits, and how much fuel do you need to land with a legal and comfortable reserve. Each tool shows its inputs, the formula it uses, and the intermediate values, so you can check the work instead of trusting a single number.
The tools are written for U.S. general aviation pilots — student pilots working toward a private certificate, instrument students learning holds and descent planning, and CFIs who want a quick way to demonstrate the math during ground lessons. They follow the conventions in the FAA's Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, the Aeronautical Information Manual, and 14 CFR Part 91.
Each calculator has a longer guide that explains the method, works an example by hand, and covers the mistakes that come up most often.
Use them to plan and to cross-check, but your aircraft's POH/AFM and official weather and NOTAM sources are the authority. The pilot in command is responsible for every number used on a flight.
No. Every calculator works without signing in. A free account only lets you save calculations and reload them on another device.
CockpitCalc is built and maintained by the CockpitCalc team. You can read more on the About page or send corrections to contact@cockpitcalc.com.
Enter weights and arm distances to calculate CG and total moment.
| Item | Weight (lbs) | Arm (in) | Moment (lb·in) |
|---|
The math is the same for every airplane: multiply each weight by its arm to get a moment, add up the weights and moments, then divide total moment by total weight to find the loaded center of gravity. What changes between airplanes is the data you feed it. Use the empty weight and empty CG from the current weight and balance record in the aircraft — not the sample numbers printed in the POH — because avionics swaps and interior work move both.
Two checks matter, and this tool only answers the arithmetic half. You still need to plot the result on the CG envelope in your POH, because many envelopes narrow at higher weights: a CG that is legal at 2,100 lb can be out of limits at 2,450 lb. Run it twice — once at takeoff weight and once at landing weight with your planned fuel burned — since the CG moves as fuel leaves the tanks.
Common slip: using 6 lb/gal for Jet-A. Avgas (100LL) is about 6.0 lb/gal; Jet-A is about 6.7 lb/gal.
Compute PA and DA from field conditions.
Pressure altitude converts your field elevation to the standard 29.92 inHg datum: every 0.01 inHg below standard adds about 10 ft. Density altitude then corrects pressure altitude for temperature using the common rule of roughly 120 ft per °C above or below ISA. The ISA helper computes standard temperature at pressure altitude (15°C minus 2°C per 1,000 ft), which is what the formula expects.
Quick sanity check: a sea-level field with 29.92 and 15°C should return a density altitude of about zero. The same field at 35°C is 20°C above standard, so expect roughly 2,400 ft. If your answer is wildly different, check whether the temperature toggle matches the units you entered.
The 120 ft/°C rule ignores humidity, which raises density altitude slightly more. Treat the result as an input to your POH takeoff and climb charts, not as a performance answer by itself.
Headwind and crosswind from any wind report and runway.
The crosswind component is wind speed × sin(angle between wind and runway); the headwind component is wind speed × cos(that angle). A negative headwind is a tailwind. The side the wind comes from is shown in the summary line — wind from a direction clockwise of the runway heading comes from the right.
Match your references. Runway numbers are magnetic. Winds from ATIS, AWOS, and the tower are magnetic too, but winds in a METAR or TAF are reported in degrees true. In much of the western U.S. the difference is 10°–15°, which can change a crosswind estimate by several knots on a gusty day.
For gusty winds, run the gust value — that is the crosswind you will actually have to hold in the flare. Compare the result to the demonstrated crosswind velocity in your POH and to your own personal minimums, whichever is lower.
Plan your fuel load with reserves and alternates.
Total fuel = trip fuel (burn rate × flight time) + reserve + alternate fuel + taxi/contingency. The reserve and alternate fields are entered in minutes and converted using the same burn rate, which matches the FAA's wording of "at normal cruising speed." The default 45-minute reserve is the night-VFR and IFR minimum; day VFR legally requires 30 minutes, though many pilots and flight schools set a one-hour personal minimum.
The flight-time input should include climb, which burns noticeably more than cruise in most piston singles. Your POH's "fuel to climb" table is the honest way to account for it; the taxi/contingency field is a good place to add it if you don't want to split the flight into legs.
Compare the total to usable fuel, not total capacity. Pounds are shown at 6 lb/gal (avgas) or 1.58 lb/L so you can carry the number straight into weight and balance.
Estimate cloud base height from surface observations.
A rising parcel of unsaturated air cools at about 3°C per 1,000 ft while its dewpoint drops only about 0.5°C per 1,000 ft, so the temperature/dewpoint spread closes at roughly 2.5°C per 1,000 ft. That is where the 400 ft per °C (227 ft per °F) factor comes from. The answer is height above the reporting station, not MSL.
The estimate works best for fair-weather cumulus that forms from daytime surface heating. It says little about stratus, marine layers, frontal cloud, or layers that drifted in from somewhere else. METAR temperatures are rounded to whole degrees, so a 1°C rounding error is worth about 400 ft; the T-group in the remarks (for example T02220139) gives tenths if you need them.
Always prefer a reported ceiling over an estimate. This tool is most useful at fields without cloud reporting, or for anticipating where afternoon cumulus will build.
Maximum glide range from altitude and best glide ratio.
Wind-corrected glide ratio = Vbg ± Wind / (Vbg / L:D)
Still-air glide distance is height above the ground × glide ratio. A 9:1 airplane at 6,000 ft AGL covers 54,000 ft, about 8.9 NM. Wind changes ground distance but not the time you have: time to the ground is set by sink rate (best-glide speed ÷ glide ratio). The wind-adjusted figure scales the still-air distance by your groundspeed at best glide, so enter tailwind as positive and headwind as negative.
The result assumes you are already stabilized at best-glide speed with the propeller and configuration your POH assumes. It does not include altitude lost in turns, during the transition from cruise, or from a windmilling propeller if your POH figures assume it stopped. Real-world glides are usually shorter than the book number, so pick a field well inside the circle.
Glide ratio is essentially independent of weight, but best-glide speed is lower when you are lighter. Most POHs publish the speed for max gross weight only.
Required rate for any gradient or altitude change.
Gradients and vertical speeds are linked by groundspeed. One nautical mile is about 6,076 ft, so a gradient in percent becomes ft/NM by multiplying by 60.76, and ft/NM becomes feet per minute by multiplying by groundspeed ÷ 60. A standard 3° glidepath is about 5.2%, or roughly 318 ft/NM — which is why "groundspeed × 5" is a good first guess for the VSI on an ILS or LPV.
Top of descent works from the other direction: altitude to lose ÷ planned descent rate gives minutes, and minutes × groundspeed ÷ 60 gives the distance out to start down. Use the groundspeed you expect in the descent, which is usually higher than cruise.
Departure procedures publish climb gradients in ft/NM. Convert them here before you fly them: 400 ft/NM at 90 knots groundspeed needs 600 fpm, which some trainers cannot sustain on a hot day.
Determine correct FAA entry procedure based on your heading at the fix.
The tool compares your heading at the fix with the inbound holding course. For a standard (right-turn) hold, headings from 70° left of the inbound course through 110° right of it give a direct entry, the next 70° give a teardrop, and the remaining sector gives a parallel entry. Left-turn holds use the mirror image. This is the AIM's sector diagram expressed as arithmetic.
Near a sector boundary the AIM allows a ±5° tolerance, so either entry is acceptable there. What matters more is that you decide before the fix and brief the first turn out loud. If ATC gives you a hold "on the 090 radial," that radial is outbound from the station; the inbound course is the reciprocal (270°). The course selector above handles that conversion.
Timing: one-minute inbound legs at or below 14,000 ft MSL, 1½ minutes above. Adjust the outbound leg to make the inbound leg come out right.
Convert between true and magnetic headings using magnetic variation and deviation.
The chain runs True Course → (wind correction) → True Heading → (variation) → Magnetic Heading → (deviation) → Compass Heading. Variation comes from the isogonic lines on your sectional and is entered here as positive for East, negative for West. "East is least, West is best": going from true to magnetic you subtract east variation and add west.
Deviation is specific to your airplane's compass and is read from the correction card. The card usually says "For 090, steer 093," meaning the compass must read 093 to fly 090 magnetic; enter that here as −3 (magnetic minus compass). For course work — plotting, VOR radials, airway courses — leave deviation at zero.
Magnetic variation drifts over time. Use a current chart; values from an old sectional can be off by a degree or more.
Paste any raw METAR or TAF and get a plain-English breakdown of every element.
Paste a raw report as it appears on aviationweather.gov or in your EFB. The decoder walks through each group in order — station, time, wind, visibility, present weather, sky condition, temperature/dewpoint, altimeter — and then the remarks, which hold some of the most useful detail: precipitation begin/end times, sea-level pressure, hourly precise temperatures, and sensor status.
Two details trip pilots up. First, METAR and TAF winds are in degrees true, while ATIS and runway numbers are magnetic. Second, the ceiling is the lowest broken (BKN), overcast (OVC), or vertical visibility (VV) layer; a FEW or SCT layer is not a ceiling no matter how low it is.
Decoded output is for study and planning. Use an official briefing source for the actual go/no-go decision.
Essential navigation and planning calculations.
True airspeed is computed from calibrated airspeed and air density using the standard-atmosphere pressure and temperature ratios, then compared with the "2% per 1,000 ft" rule of thumb so you can see how close the shortcut is. Enter calibrated airspeed — correct indicated airspeed with your POH's airspeed calibration table first if the difference matters.
Wind correction solves the wind triangle: the crab angle is arcsin(wind speed × sin(wind angle) ÷ TAS), and groundspeed is what remains along the course. Enter true course and the winds-aloft direction, both in degrees true (winds-aloft forecasts are already true), then apply variation afterward to get magnetic heading.
Time/distance/fuel is the familiar distance ÷ groundspeed problem with fuel burn added. It is worth checking each leg separately — a 20-knot headwind on one leg costs more than the same tailwind gives back on the return.
All your saved calculations across every tool — click any row to reload it.