Definition
A written or printed planning form used by a pilot to organize the route of flight, listing checkpoints, courses, distances, headings, fuel burn, time estimates, frequencies, and altitudes for each leg of the trip.
Plain English
A worksheet the pilot fills out before flying that lays out the whole trip step by step — where you're going, how long each part takes, how much fuel it burns, and what radios and headings to use along the way.
Context Anchor
Seen during preflight planning and used in the cockpit during a flight, especially when conducting an instrument flight rules flight where the pilot must follow a planned or cleared route.
Derivation
Navigation comes from older words meaning to travel by ship, from the Latin navis, meaning ship. Log comes from early sea travel, where sailors kept a written record of the ship’s progress. Together, the words point to a record used to guide and track a journey.
Why Pilots Care
It keeps the pilot organized, helps spot deviations early, and supports safe fuel and time management under instrument conditions.
Intuition Check
Do not think of a navigation log as only a diary written after the flight. In aviation, it is usually a working plan used before and during the flight to guide and check progress.
Example Sentence 1
She filled out her navigation log the night before the trip, noting each checkpoint, heading, and estimated fuel burn.
Example Sentence 2
After receiving a reroute from ATC, she updated the navigation log with the new waypoint and revised fuel burn.