Not planning to be the Slavoj Zizek of the forum, but are there any forumites who still use sweep hand watch, map and compass as their only form of navigation (outside of IFR)?
I really enjoy just using ded reckoning and cover fair distances – albeit at eighty knots. Occasionally am unsure of position and will either orbit or return to last known position and then continue.
While Europe allows access to airways, in the UK most VFR is low level and I just feel more comfortable using DR.
I do have a portable GPS but have not used it in years.
My only infringement has been once touching an ATZ while using a GPS – although I put the avoidance of airspace to ded reckoning keeping my guard up to this risk.
My flying is also more conservative on the weather front.
Is it practical? Yes for modest trips up to 300 nm, but that is a function of the eighty knotter context.
If my block speed were 160 knots I expect radio nav under IFR would prevail.
but are there any forumites who still use sweep hand watch, map and compass as their only form of navigation
No.
I better get my coat then….
One acquaintance who served at the height of the Cold War has kept his ded reckoning skills intact.
Apparently the V Forces INS was in the stand off ‘device’ so the return flight, possibly theoretical, was ded reckoning plus ground radar – obviously airspace infringement was not an issue.
My watch just has numbers. What’s a sweep hand? 
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2053/is-dead-reckoning-short-for-deduced-reckoning
Nope afraid not. Had to brush up for a flight exam recently but DR is what we pretend for the system…
Yes, but only because the cigarette lighter port isn’t fixed on the plane I’ve just started renting. I have an Airspace Aware, but it doesn’t have enough battery for a whole flight so I just keep it for if I get lost. Radio navaids have also gotten me out of trouble once or twice too.
That said, I think it’s good discipline to flight plan properly, which planning by compass and stopwatch enforces. I also enjoy using the slide rule.
I suspect that to some extent, the PPL is an intelligence test – designed to keep absolute fools from getting loose solo in an aircraft and difficult enough to artificially restrict the number of participants to a level where they don’t infringe commercial and military activity too much. If there were as many planes as horses, it would be a nightmare for them however diligent we all were.
…but are there any forumites who still use sweep hand watch, map and compass as their only form of navigation (outside of IFR)?
When instructing I still have to do that. Or to be honest: The student has to do it. I will secretly peek at some device that contains a GPS receiver (iPad, cellphone, …) just to make sure. After all, I still need my license for some years to come and infringement fines are high compared to an instructor’s pay.
And as regarding the “sweep hands” on the (stop-)watch: Not for VFR flying. Full minutes are precise enough and one can read those from any device that contains a clock, e.g. a cellphone – I wonder how we survived before those were invented. Seconds I only need for fling holdings in IFR and even then, digital readout is good enough.
It’s nice to know that I could find my way using dead reckoning alone (if only I would have a paper map on board 
) and many years ago they even made me demonstrate that skill. But that doesn’t mean that I enjoy doing it. I like to fly, not to navigate. That’s a litte like making your laundry: Of course one can clean the shirts using a river and a washboard, but on normal days I prefer the washing machine.
DR is a very good reality check.
Personally, I think any pilot who relies on a sole method of navigation, be that DR, GPS or any of the other options, is asking for trouble. Piloting is about cross-checking and redundancy.
There are people enjoying to run marathons backwards…
