Thanks for the tips. Very helpful. In fact they were so good that yesterday the instructor was happy to let me go solo for a quick rejoin (after loads of cancellations due to bad visibility/low cloud)! Instructor also told me I'm ready to go out by myself a bit further so maybe this weekend...
I quite like the 'funnel' method suggested by lenthamen. Railroads are very easy to spot and use to navigate. One other tip suggested by another student is to use gefs-online.com. It's an google maps flight simulator. I would create my plog according to trip and wind. I would then simulate it with the autopilot by entering the calculated headings/speed/alt. I think it helps getting used to the ground features and corrections calculations.
This cross country business is quite fun! Much more interesting than going round (rectangular?) in circuits!
Disagree. Going slower literally allows for more decision making time.
Flying slower gives you more time to think.
There are 60 minutes in every hour and 60 seconds in every minute no matter what speed you are doing! Flying slower may let you see more, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with how much you think!
Flying a little higher makes spotting the next big city, tower or airport much easier. Flying slower gives you more time to think.
I know the theory (I passed the exam)
Theory and Practice are very different. Navigation is the Process of getting from one place to another in an organised manner. It is a skill, quite different from flying an aeroplane, where some people have more natural ability than others.
It requires you to multiplex your flying with a range of activities of which map reading is only a small component part. It requires some mathematical ability, specifically geometry, which is where some manage better than others.
Navigation is often badly taught with little real instruction. If it is taught in a series of building blocks then the student should learn the basic skill quite quickly and gain confidence. Good practice is essential to the learning process.
Man is never lost, merely temporarily unaware of his position. Heading and Time tell you where you are, assuming you know where you started from!
It might sound silly, but can't just just read the needed heading from the Direction Indicator?
If you have one, yes.
Where I live, we teach students to use everything that is in the panel. Then on their test they can use the same aids. No handheld gadgets, just map, watch, and whatever the aircraft has. Usually a DI, VOR, maybe an ADF
You know where you are....what "time" would the place you need to get to be i.e. new destination is at 4 o'clock = 4 x 3 = 12, add a 0 = 120 degrees
if 11 o'clock then 11 x 3 = 33, add a 0 = 330 degrees
It might sound silly, but can't just just read the needed heading from the Direction Indicator?
Hi
A good idea if cannot work out if a town is the town you think it is, is to work out what it is not. Its all too easy to make the town fit what you want it to on the map. So it cannot be x because the road cuts through the middle n-s etc.
And as for rivers on maps....uggghhhh most of the time you cannot see them unless they are big rivers and its winter with no foliage on the trees!
This is where you will also start to do "diversions". Basically you are not going where you thought you would be but changing course for somewhere else.
I use a very simple method to gauge a track to go on. But you do need to know where you are.
Think of a clock face.
You know where you are....what "time" would the place you need to get to be i.e. new destination is at 4 o'clock = 4 x 3 = 12, add a 0 = 120 degrees
if 11 o'clock then 11 x 3 = 33, add a 0 = 330 degrees
if between 7 o'clock and 8 o'clock then work out half way
so 7 x 3 = 21, add 0 = 210 8 x 3 = 24, add 0 = 240 so midway = about 225 degrees.
Then take into account the wind and wind strength to set a heading ie + or - a couple of degrees or so
Works every time and impressed my caa examiner who had not come across this before.
If you also put notches on your pencil 10nm, 5nm, 5x 1nm you can easily see how far. Your plog should have given you your ground speed so you can then work out how many mins.
Have fun as now this is what flying about is all about, not banging away at circuits.
Best of luck geekflyer, this is the most interesting part you are embarking on, but also the most challenging I would say. In addition to Peter's point about mistaken positive identification, you can enhance this by checking for 3 things, and not just settling for 2. For example 1: Does the road running North East of out the town run in the same direction on my map? 2: Is the town below me relatively correct to the airport I can in my 3 o'clock position? 3: Is the river running right through the middle of the city that I can see on my map, also runing through the middle of the city I see before me?
Granted it is not easy to do this at 100 kts, but maybe with some up front consideration of what you expect to find for each major waypoint, might reduce the cockpit workload. I recall back breaking moments hunching over the instrument panel in the PA28 trying to find things in front of me before they dissapeared under wing - you can help avoid this by planning a route to right of the major landmarks so you can hopefully see them out of the left hand side a bit easier.
8 years on I'd admit that VFR map/plog/wind correction/stopwatch methods are still quite difficult. The weather (especially summer/high pressure haze and sunlight), or cloud cover can significantly alter how one landmark might look one day to another. I would accept that navigation it not easy and dont beat yourself up if it doesnt always go perfectly to plan. Later in life you can help yourself by using VOR's, ADF's, GPS's as you desire. Enjoy, and best of luck.
I was teached to use "funnels" in the landscape as turning points. For example, departing from EGSV, you fly a 190 track, and then use the railway intersection as your turning point..
The railways will lead you to your first turning point. This concept can be applied to rivers, motorways, railroads, etc.
VFR cross country flying is fun, but can also be quite demanding. It is important to plan ahead. 2 minutes before reaching the first turning point you can already set your next heading on the heading bug, look up the ETE for your next leg, etc. When passing the turning point, write down the actual time and set the new heading. Between turning points you have plenty of time for things like cruise checks, setting the radio, etc.
During training you should stick to the "WW1 style" of navigation, as that is what you need to display during the PPL checkride. After you get the PPL there will be loads of tools to make life easy :-)
