The FAA’s preflight action rule, 14 CFR 91.103, requires you to become familiar with all available information concerning any flight. NWKRAFT is an acronym (or more accurately, a mnemonic) that packs that information into seven letters.
Skip one, and you could end up in a situation like this.
On a clear afternoon in December 2024, a Piper Chieftain was concluding a 5-hour aerial survey flight near Victoria, Texas (NTSB accident number CEN25LA060).
About 10 miles from the airport, the pilot noticed low fuel indications, and then both engines lost power. The pilot executed a forced landing onto a service road.
The aircraft collided with three vehicles during the landing roll, then a traffic light pole, which tore off the right wing and aft fuselage. The accident left the pilot and four people on the ground with injuries.
The engines didn’t mechanically fail. They just ran out of fuel.
The pilot was unaware of the actual fuel load, and he said he didn’t complete a detailed fuel burn calculation. The NTSB cited inadequate preflight planning and inspection as the probable cause.
That’s the F for fuel requirements in NWKRAFT.
What Does NWKRAFT Stand for?
NWKRAFT stands for NOTAMs, Weather, Known ATC delays, Runway lengths, Alternates available, Fuel requirements, and Takeoff and landing distances. NWKRAFT isn’t an FAA requirement, but it’s a training mnemonic for the required preflight information under 14 CFR 91.103.
While the overarching rule is that a pilot must become familiar with “all available information concerning a flight,” the FAA divides the specific requirements into two categories:
- For any flight: you must check runway lengths and takeoff and landing distances.
- For IFR or flights not in the vicinity of an airport: you must also check weather reports, fuel requirements, alternates available (the regulation technically calls these “alternatives”), and known ATC delays.
The FAA doesn’t define “vicinity,” so treat any flight beyond the immediate airport area, such as a cross-country or practice-area flight, as not in the vicinity.
NWKRAFT Explained Letter by Letter
Here’s each letter in turn.
NOTAMs
NOTAM is an aviation acronym for Notice to Airmen (the FAA briefly used “Notice to Air Missions” from late 2021 to early 2025). A NOTAM is a notice about the abnormal status of a component of the National Airspace System (NAS), such as a runway closure, navaid outage, or flight restriction.
Interestingly, if you read the actual regulation for preflight action (14 CFR 91.103), you won’t find the word “NOTAM.”
Becoming familiar with “all available information” in 91.103 is a broad requirement, which includes NOTAMs, but not by name.
FAA Advisory Circular 91-92, although strictly guidance rather than regulation, fills that gap. Section 7.1 of the AC states that pilots should review all appropriate sources, explicitly including NOTAMs, as part of the preflight action.
You can check NOTAMs through Flight Service, an app like ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot, or the FAA’s FNS NOTAM Search website.
The FAA also uses NOTAMs to announce Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs), which restrict aircraft from operating in a certain area for a limited time. The FAA issues them for natural disasters, certain major sporting events, and national security situations (e.g., presidential travel).
Violating a TFR can result in anything from a warning to a revoked certificate, so check your NOTAMs before every flight. The FAA’s TFR list is worth a look too, though newly issued TFRs may not appear there in time for your flight.
Weather
Before every flight, review current and forecast conditions at your departure airport, route, destination, and alternates.
At the destination, pay close attention to changes expected within an hour before and after your arrival.
Work through your weather in the same order every time:
- Adverse Conditions: weather advisories, including SIGMETs and AIRMETs, for hazards such as thunderstorms, icing, turbulence, and wind shear
- Synopsis: current picture of weather systems and air masses (usually from a graphical weather map)
- Current conditions: METARs, PIREPs, and satellite and radar imagery
- Forecasts: TAFs, GFA, and prognostic charts for en route and destination
- Winds aloft: forecast winds and temperatures at your planned altitude, interpolated between levels and stations
You can find all of this through any of the following sources:
- Flight Service Pilot Web Portal (1800wxbrief.com) or call 1-800-WX-BRIEF (1-800-992-7433)
- Aviation Weather Center website (aviationweather.gov)
- Third-party flight planning services (apps like ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot)
Flight Service offers three types of briefings:
- Outlook: early planning information, 6 or more hours before departure
- Standard: complete and detailed weather briefing, within 6 hours of departure
- Abbreviated: an update on what has changed since your last briefing
A good briefing informs your go/no-go decision, but you still have to make the call.
Your airplane has operating limits. You have personal limits. If the weather exceeds either, delay the departure or cancel the flight.
Known ATC Delays
Weather, traffic volume, runway closures, equipment outages, and ATC staffing shortages cause most of the delays. They hit busy hub airports hardest, especially during peak travel periods.
14 CFR 91.103 covers known traffic delays, meaning delays ATC has advised you of, but you can check them long before a controller ever keys the mic. You can use these two FAA websites to find out:
- The National Airspace System Status website: features a full U.S. map providing current and forecast information on ATC delays, along with the weather, airspace, or airport conditions causing them
- The FAA Flight Delay Information website: displays ATC delays and causes for specific U.S. regions or individual airports
Knowing the delays at the destination or en route lets you adjust before you’re airborne. For example, you may postpone your departure time, request more fuel, or plan a different route.
Runway Lengths
You have to know the runway lengths at your departure airport, destination, and alternate.
A runway’s physical length and its usable length aren’t always the same. A displaced threshold, an intersection departure, or a NOTAM can change the runway available.
Keep in mind that airport diagrams help you navigate taxiways and ramps, not find takeoff and landing distances. The Chart Supplement (formerly the Airport/Facility Directory) provides the accurate runway lengths, widths, and surface data for performance calculation.
Some airports also publish declared distances in the Chart Supplement, which specify the exact runway lengths available for takeoff and landing. They come in four types:
- Takeoff Run Available (TORA)
- Takeoff Distance Available (TODA)
- Accelerate-Stop Distance Available (ASDA)
- Landing Distance Available (LDA)
If none are published, assume the full runway length is available, unless there’s a displaced threshold, which shortens LDA.
Whether you are taking off or touching down, the runway available is all you get, and it’s your job to know that exact distance.
Alternates Available
An alternate airport is simply a backup airport where you can land if you can’t land at your destination.
VFR flights don’t require alternate airports, but there’s a caveat.
For a VFR flight that is not in the vicinity of an airport, 14 CFR 91.103(a) requires you to consider “alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed.” In practice, that means considering where you could divert if you can’t reach the destination for some reason.
For IFR flights, though, you have a rule to determine whether you need to pick and file an alternate airport.
It’s called the 1-2-3 rule (based on 14 CFR 91.169), and it works like this:
Your IFR flight plan must include an alternate airport, UNLESS the destination airport has an instrument approach procedure, and the weather reports or forecasts show:
- 1 hour before and 1 hour after your estimated time of arrival
- 2,000 feet of ceiling or higher
- 3 statute miles of visibility or greater.
For IFR pilots: at your estimated arrival time, your alternate’s weather must be at or above its published minimums (14 CFR 91.169(c)). If none are published, use the standard minimums:
- Precision Approach: 600 feet of ceiling and 2 statute miles of visibility
- Non-Precision Approach: 800 feet of ceiling and 2 statute miles of visibility
- No Instrument Approach: ceiling and visibility allowing basic VFR from the MEA to landing
An alternate airport isn’t a box to check. It’s an escape plan. The regulations prescribe when you need one, but good airmanship demands you always leave yourself an out.
Fuel Requirements
You must carry enough fuel to reach your destination. That’s common sense, but the legal minimum also includes specific reserves beyond that point. 14 CFR 91 prescribes the following fuel requirements for airplanes:
- VFR: enough fuel to reach your destination, plus 30 minutes during the day and 45 minutes at night (14 CFR 91.151)
- IFR: enough fuel to reach your destination, then an alternate if one is required, plus 45 minutes at normal cruising speed (14 CFR 91.167)
These are regulatory minimums, so it’s prudent to have a higher personal minimum. Say one hour.
Fuel needed = (distance ÷ ground speed) × burn rate, plus start, taxi, and takeoff fuel, plus reserves. Use groundspeed, not airspeed, so winds aloft count.
Climb and cruise fuel both come straight from the performance charts. The rest of the flight takes more judgment:
- Start, Taxi, and Takeoff: normally just 1 to 2 gallons, but a long taxi or ground delay at a busy airport can burn through another gallon or two before you’re even airborne
- Descent, Approach, and Landing: usually reduced power, but vectors, holding, or a missed approach can burn through your entire reserve
Visually check or measure the fuel before every flight. Never trust gauges alone, and monitor your burn rate in flight.
Check your airplane’s actual burn rate against the book numbers, too. POH fuel figures come from a new engine flown by a factory test pilot, and real-world consumption often runs higher.
The regulations set your fuel floor. What’s in the tanks is what keeps your options open when the day doesn’t go as planned.
Takeoff and Landing Distances
Runway length tells you what’s available. Takeoff and landing distance tells you what you need, and the two aren’t automatically the same.
You have to calculate takeoff and landing distances at every airport you intend to use, per the performance charts in your POH or AFM.
Several factors change that distance:
- Density Altitude: Thinner air reduces engine power and raises true airspeed, so both your takeoff run and landing roll get longer.
- Weight: A heavier airplane needs more speed to lift off and more room to stop, increasing both your takeoff and landing distance.
- Wind: A headwind means you need less runway for takeoff and landing, while a tailwind means you need more.
- Surface and Slope: Grass, wet pavement, or a slope against you adds runway you need on both takeoff and landing.
- Flaps: Using partial flaps for takeoff and full flaps for landing lets you lift off and touch down slower, reducing your distances.
Book numbers come from a new airframe in ideal conditions. Add at least a 50% margin to your calculated distances before comparing them to runway length.
Use the 70/50 rule as your abort point: if you haven’t reached 70% of your rotation speed by the halfway point of your calculated takeoff roll, abort.
The rule is simpler for landing: if you haven’t touched down within the first third of the runway, go around.
Available runway is your absolute limit. Takeoff and landing distances are your absolute minimums. Always keep a healthy margin between the two.
Is NWKRAFT the Only Preflight Action Acronym?
No. Even NWKRAFT itself has variations, including WKFARTN as a crude anagram and NWCRAFT as a common misspelling.
The FAA’s WINGS “Flight Review Prep Guide” uses WEALTH (Weather, Expected performance, Alternatives, Length of runways, Traffic delays, How much fuel).
Others like FATWORK, AFATWRK and RAWFAT rearrange the same core items, though they fold NOTAMs under broader labels or skip them entirely.
The acronym varies. The regulation doesn’t.
Final Thoughts
The Chieftain pilot had over 7,000 hours. It wasn’t lack of skill that put him on that service road. It was an inadequate preflight action and a skipped fuel calculation.
NWKRAFT is not a beginner’s checklist you outgrow over time. It’s a discipline you keep every single flight, and even then, it’s only the floor.
It covers specific required preflight items, but the regulation asks you to become familiar with all available information concerning a flight.
To fully meet that standard, you have to verify the critical details NWKRAFT leaves out, such as aircraft airworthiness, required aircraft documents, and weight and balance.
Do a complete preflight before every single flight, and don’t let the hours in your logbook talk you out of it.
