exactly. practicing any instrument approaches right now before he learns VFR is a bad idea. especially since he plans on getting his license in the future.

take one step at a time! learn to walk before you run. learn to fly VFR before IFR.

in the real world landing at a field without a traffic tower, you would be expected to fly past the field a little so you can enter on the downwind at a 45 degree angle. i wish i could draw it out for you since it would be easier to visualize.

when there is a traffic tower, the tower will usually give you instructions on how to enter. they might tell you to enter on the downwind, base, etc.  if they ask you to enter the downwind, you should still enter it on a 45 degree angle midfield (middle of the runway). if they ask you to enter on the base leg or crosswind leg you should still try to enter on a 45 degree angle so you can keep an eye out for other traffic in the pattern.

Are you still trying this in a big jet ? The reason I ask (outside of hoping you're trying to learn this a light piston first    ) is that jets are rarely asked to fly a standard pattern. Since, in a jet, you're likely to be flying IFR... nine times out of ten you'll just be vectored for an approach and then cleared for that approach and turned over to the tower.

If your flying a big jet VFR, you wouldn't fly the same pattern (or at the same altitude) as you would in a light single. To be honest, I'm not sure HOW a big jet would be expected to fly a pattern. I guess, in the sim, you can just "wing" it. From what little, VFR jet simming I've done, the tower always gave me a pretty logical pattern-entry instruction, based on my current position. I've gotten, "fly straight in", "enter downwind" and "enter base" instructions and just flew those legs at distances and altitudes that were comfortable (you couldn't possibly fly a downwind-base-final pattern, 1000agl of the same dimensions that you would in a C172).

If you are practicing this in a C172     you're likely to still get logical pattern entry instructions from a tower (if you're 10 miles out flying right at the runway that you'll be landing on, the tower won't make you fly anything but straight in (unless the pattern is full). If you're asked to enter the downwind, chances are that you're already on that side of the runway. If you're on the opposite side, you'll either be asked to fly a crosswind (the 4th, rarely talked about leg) entry. If you're on the opposide side and asked to enter the downwind, then you'd fly over the airport at pattern altitude +500 feet and then make a sweeping right (for left-hand pattern) turn to enter the downwind at the 45 degree angle.

I hope I'm not confusing you     Trust me.. If you learn this stuff in steps, the next step is much easier than it would be when you try to jump in with both feet.

you would fly the "C" pattern. you shouldn't cross over an airport unless you were approaching from the west side in the drawing. if you were on the west side, then you would be expected to cross directly over the middle of the runway. a safe practice would then be to pass at least 500 feet above traffic pattern over the middle of the runway, then spriral down once safely past it (past the traffic pattern too- you never want to be heading against traffic in the pattern) to enter on a 45 degree angle to the downwind.

the tower typically will try to give you the shortest entry such as a base leg entry if you were coming from the SW. however, i've been asked more than numerous times to enter a downwind leg at class D and C airports due to traffic. at class E airports (non towered) you'll be expected to enter a standard traffic patten like i described on the downwind regardless of traffic. the ONLY time i'll ever deviate from this practice (and i don't like to teach this so you should really forget it once i tell you) is when flying into an airport late at night. sometimes after listening to the CTAF from a distance out i'll shoot a straight in approach (enter on final) when i haven't heard any activity at the airport for a while to save time and $$$. if and when i do this, i'm making position reports starting 4 miles out when in light GA aircraft. legally you can enter anyway you'd like at a non towered airport, however in the FAR/ AIM (basically the bible for pilots which describes rules and regulations) it teaches the propper way to enter a pattern on the downwind leg. so if any mishap occured and you didn't enter on the downwind, you'd most likely be in some trouble with the FAA (if in the US).

also, you won't be flying a jet VFR in real life too often. a VFR approach, yes (flying IFR but then landing VFR once the airport environment is in sight), but not typically an entire flight VFR unless you're making a really short hop.

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That wouldn't be all bad either       .. except that would make for a WHOLE bunch of VORs at a major airport.. and quite a few too many VORs where lesser airports aren't very far apart. You don't need to select and track a radial just to keep from turning runway heading too early on an instrument approach. That's pretty much what I use outer-marker NDBs for..

That's the beauty in VOR's.  You don't just fly to or from "them"..  you track a specific radial.

If you know your airport is 50nm from a VOR on the 126 radial. You'd intercept and track that radial. As long as you stay on that radial.. when the DME reads 50... ta da.. there's the airport.

Are you having trouble tracking the radial ?  That's what the CDI (little vertical needle) is for. You spin the OBS (outer compass ring) so your desired radial is on top. Then.. the CDI tells you where you are, relative to that radial. The VOR doesn't care what heading you're flying; it just tells you whether or not you're on that radial (imaginary line from the VOR). If you were flying a heading perpendicular to the selected radial (and not yet on it), the CDI would swing from one side to the other as you passed throught the radial. When you see the needle start to move.. you'd just start turning to THAT heading and as long as you stay on that radial, the CDI will stay centered (as in.. if you have to fly a correction angle for the wind, your actual heading will not match the heading you have dialed in). The trick is to keep the needle centered......

If the CDI is left of center, you need to fly a HEADING "left" of that radial to intercept (or get back on) the radial.. and vice-versa.

Flying to and from the VOR is where it can get a little confusing. As a rule; all radials are chosen as "from" the VOR. That means; if you're dead west of the VOR and want to fly TO it; you'd spin the OBS until the needle centered AND the little to/from arrow (next to the CDI) points "to" (normally "up"). That would be an OBS setting of 090. Now.. even thought you'd visualize yourself as being on the 270 radial (since you're west of the VOR), you actually be flying the 090 radial. To visualize this.. you could keep spinning the OBS until the to/from arrow points down (away) and the CDI centers again. That would be 270. Now, regardless of which way your flying, and even if you are flying to the airport, you'd be getting the "away" indication, because if you WERE flying the heading selected on the OBS (270), you WOULD be flying "away".

I know it's a hard concept to grasp at first, but once it clicks, it makes perfect sense. There's a neat little HTML based VOR simulator out there.. I'll see if I can find the link.

Mobius' post is right on, as far as VFR navigation goes. And as a VFR pilot you'd use the VOR as an extra reference. But if we're trying genuine, IFR, radio navigation (as in, you can't see the ground    )... you have to learn to count on accurate VOR use.

Well see, I thought thats what I was doing.  I flew to the VOR, then it has me fly 10º outbound to the destination. Maybe I misread the OBS, but it looked pretty much right on 10, and I kept the CDI centered, so I guess I set the wrong course or something.  I even did it with calm winds just now, and got the same result.