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Private pilot · ACS PA.VI.D · lesson pack

Lost Procedures

Why this one matters

Being lost is not dangerous on its own; running out of fuel, flying into clouds or terrain, or busting airspace while lost is. Pilots get into trouble when embarrassment stops them from asking for help, or when they wander and burn fuel. A calm, methodical plan turns being lost into a few uncomfortable minutes.

1 · Know these cold

  • •Fly the airplane first: hold a steady heading and altitude, and don’t wander looking for landmarks.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation)
  • •Climb as necessary: you’ll see farther and get better radio and navigation reception, but only while staying VFR and clear of cloud, out of airspace that needs a clearance or contact you don't have, clear of terrain and obstacles, and when the fuel cost is worth it.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation; Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.VI.D.S2)
  • •Start from the last known position and time: heading, groundspeed and elapsed time give an estimated position.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation)
  • •Use every tool: GPS, VOR cross-bearings, prominent landmarks, and ATC radar.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation)
  • •The Five Cs, after flying the airplane: Climb, Communicate, Confess, Comply, Conserve. Ask for help early on a frequency you're already using, a charted ATC frequency, or Flight Service (122.2); use 121.5 only when you can't reach anyone or it becomes threatening.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation; AIM 6-1-2)
  • •Don’t wait to declare an emergency if fuel, weather or daylight is running out.(AIM, Chapter 6, Emergency Procedures)
  • •Keep track of fuel and daylight; if both are short, a precautionary landing at any suitable airport is better than pressing on.(Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2A))

2 · The lesson

Finding your position
  • Recorded times over checkpoints are your lifeline: from the last known point, your heading, groundspeed and elapsed time give a circle of probable position.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation)
  • Look for large, unmistakable features: a lake, a highway interchange, a river bend, a city, then match them to the chart, not the other way round.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation)
  • Use GPS if it’s working. With VORs: tune and identify each station by Morse code or voice (never use one you can't identify), center the needle with a FROM flag to read the radial you're on, plot it from the station, and cross two radials at a good angle (not nearly parallel). Check the fix against your dead-reckoning estimate and a landmark before you trust it.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation; AIM 1-1-3)
  • Conserve: reduce power toward the POH best-endurance setting and lean as the POH allows. Know the 91.151 numbers: 30 minutes of fuel by day is already the reserve, so with that left, declare an emergency and land at the nearest suitable airport rather than keep searching.(PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation; 14 CFR 91.151(a))
Getting help
  • Confess and give them what they need: your call sign, "student pilot" if you are one, your last known position and time, heading, altitude, fuel remaining and persons on board. Then comply with their instructions, as pilot in command.(AIM, Chapter 6, Emergency Procedures; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation)
  • A radar facility can vector you only if you can talk to it and you're in radar coverage. Its guidance is advisory: it doesn't authorize breaking a rule, and safe flight stays your responsibility. If you aren't instrument rated, say so, and say you're in VFR conditions; refuse any vector into cloud, and pick a VFR landing or declare distress instead.(AIM 6-2-1)
  • Other help: Flight Service on 122.2 or a remote communications outlet shown on the chart, and direction-finding (DF) steers from some facilities when radar can't see you, using just your radio transmissions.(AIM 6-2-3; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation)
  • If you can’t reach anyone, use 121.5 MHz. Doubt about your position is an urgency condition ("PAN-PAN"); distress is "MAYDAY". Squawk 7700 only for distress or urgency when you want to alert radar, then make contact; for ordinary help, expect ATC to give you a discrete code to identify you.(AIM 6-1-2; 6-2-2)
  • Declare an emergency when fuel, weather, daylight or your own state is getting worse. You get priority. If you were given priority, ATC may ask for a detailed report, which you must file within the time they set.(AIM, Chapter 6, Emergency Procedures; 14 CFR 91.123(d))
Keeping safe while you work it out
  • Being lost makes you stare at the chart and the GPS. Keep scanning for traffic and terrain, and keep the airplane level and trimmed.(AC 90-48, Pilots' Role in Collision Avoidance)
  • Stress narrows attention. Slow down: fly the airplane, then use a checklist approach to position, then decide.(Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2A))

Want it all on one page, with scenarios? Read the full lesson.

On the flight

ACS standards

  • Use an appropriate method to find your position, maintain an appropriate heading and climb as necessary, and select an appropriate course of action.(Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.VI.D.S1-S2, S5)

What your instructor is watching for

Your instructor watches whether you stay calm, keep the airplane under control, climb when it helps, use the tools in a logical order, and ask ATC for help without hesitating.

3 · Say it out loud

Answer each one out loud, then check yourself and mark how it went.

  1. Remember Recall it

    “What is the emergency frequency and the emergency transponder code?”

  2. Understand Explain why

    “Why climb when you’re lost?”

  3. Apply Use it on a flight

    “You can’t match anything on the ground to your chart and the GPS has failed. What do you do?”

4 · Common mistakes

  • Wandering in circles looking for a landmark.

    It burns fuel and destroys your dead reckoning.

    Instead: Hold a heading, and work from your last known position.

  • Waiting too long to ask for help.

    Fuel, daylight and weather options shrink while you hesitate.

    Instead: Call ATC as soon as you are unsure and can’t resolve it quickly.

  • Forcing the ground to match the chart.

    You convince yourself a landmark is the one you want.

    Instead: Go from the ground to the chart, and confirm with a second feature.

5 · Quick check

Answer, then reveal. Flag anything you want to see again.

  1. 1. What’s the first thing to do when you realize you’re lost?

  2. 2. Why record the time over each checkpoint?

  3. 3. How can two VORs fix your position?

  4. 4. What frequency and transponder code do you use in an emergency?

  5. Scenario5. You’re lost with 30 minutes of fuel left. What do you do?

Trained it? Now prove it: practice lost procedures out loud with our examiner.

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Connect it

One situation that runs across this lesson and its neighbors in the same ACS area. Decide first, then check.

Connect it · Navigation

Halfway through a cross-country, the clouds ahead are lowering and pushing you down. You turn toward an airport off to your right, and ten minutes later you can't match the ground to the chart.

How do the diversion and the lost procedure connect? Decide, then see the worked answer

Divert early, while you still have altitude and options, and to a suitable airport, not just the nearest: terrain and weather on the way, runway length and surface, and fuel to get there with your reserve. As you turn, note the time and your heading, estimate the new heading, time and fuel, then refine. Hold an altitude that keeps you clear of terrain and meets the 91.155 cloud clearances. That note at the turn is what the lost procedure starts from: dead-reckon from the turn point, and the elapsed time multiplied by your groundspeed bounds how far you can be from it, your circle of uncertainty. Then the five Cs, in order. Climb, if the clouds allow, for a better view and radio reception. Communicate: ATC for radar assistance, flight following or vectors; Flight Service for communications and direction-finding help (Flight Service doesn't provide flight following). Confess that you're unsure of your position. Comply with the help you get, but keep the controller advised that you're VFR and not instrument rated: radar assistance doesn't authorize you to break the regulations or the VFR cloud clearances, so declare an emergency rather than accept a vector into cloud. Conserve fuel with an endurance power setting. Cross-check with a VOR cross-fix or GPS. Declare an emergency early, on 121.5 or by squawking 7700, if you can't stay VFR or the help isn't resolving it.

PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation; AIM 6-2; 14 CFR 91.155

Brings together: Pilotage and Dead Reckoning · Navigation Systems and Radar Services · Diversion · Lost Procedures

Teaching this? The instructor lesson plan →

Study aid, not FAA guidance. Sources: Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25C); Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM); 14 CFR Part 91; AC 90-48; Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C); VFR sectional chart and Chart Supplement. Checked against current sources 2026-11-12.