"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...

There's really only two important questions for the vast majority of
flights most private pilots take:

1) Am I going to run into any weather I can't handle?

2) Am I going to have enough fuel to get there? Corellary: can I buy
fuel there, or do I need to plan on enough to get back too?

I agree, but I think there are two sorts of relevant question, of which
those represent one. They address the overall "should I even take off on
this flight?" issue. And that's necessary, but not the end of flight
planning. The other aspect is "can I do things now to minimize my workload
at difficult times?"

For example, one of the most important of these is the minimum altitude that
I can descend to for each leg, and how that might vary if I'm forced off
track by weather.

You have to consider that in context. I have the chart, and if all is quiet
in the cockpit I can just look at it and work out the minimum altitude.
It's if things get busy that the pre-planning might help. Same applies to
previewing IAPs, planning frequencies, and working out tracks for each leg.
Is it worth doing every single time? Maybe not, but there are times I've
been very grateful for some pre-work!

Julian Scarfe