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Sim Flight Training: PPL: Part 5 of 7 (Read 6580 times)

Jan 2^nd, 2008 at 8:23pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
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Quote:

SimV Private Pilot:

1-Plan a flight of 50nm or more, accounting for winds aloft and their affect on heading and ground-speed. Calculate the minimum fuel needed (including reserves) and the maximum payload at that fuel level.

2-Fly the planned flight holding heading (+/- 10 degrees) and altitude (+/- 100 feet); enter the traffic pattern safely; execute a touch-and-go and fly one complete lap around the pattern and then execute a full-stop, short-field landing.

3-Execute a short-field takeoff.

4-Execute a constant-airspeed, climbing turn.

5-Track a VOR radial and fly to an NDB.

6-Execute a 360 degree, steep turn (greater than 45 degrees bank) holding altitude +/- 100 feet and rolling out on heading +/- 10 degrees.

7-Execute a no-flap landing.

It's kind of hard to just say, "Track a VOR radial" without having a goal in mind. So this lesson will actually be an intro to VOR navigation... with an NDB thrown in by thread's end.

Again, some fundementals will be assumed. You'll know how to find a VOR fequency on a VFR sectional; an IFR low-altitude chart.. or from whatever source is handy or appropriate. You'll know how to tune that frequency into the proper Nav-radio... and understand how to select a radial using the OBS keeping in mind the to/from.

If you're completely new to VOR navigation; I'd be kidding myself to think I could do better than to have you study this link: http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/index.htm

That, in itself is a complete course in flight-sim radio navigation, and will be referenced quite often. What we'll do here is present a few problems, and talk our way through them. I'll be keeping the images low quality, so that we can post several per thread, in need be.

OK... We all know how hard it can be to find an airport.. even in 20 mile visibility. We need to get from Airport 1, to Airport 2. We have both VORs tuned in and ready to go. We know the two radials that intersect at our destination.. How do we go about finding Airport 2 ?

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Reply #1 - Jan 2^nd, 2008 at 10:22pm

beaky Offline
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Brett_Henderson wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2008 at 8:23pm:

How do we go about finding Airport 2 ?

Follow the railroad tracks?

Grin

Grin

Wait, that's not the right answer, is it...

Undecided

Undecided

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Reply #2 - Jan 2^nd, 2008 at 10:52pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
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EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

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Grin

LOL (no)

I forgot to mention, that the railroad tracks would take you through active, restricted airspace, and that Airforce One will pass over them too, on short final... Oh.. and there's a bevy of parachuters near the fringes of the TFR... and a hot air baloon race not far from there. The highway being built along the tracks is going through a mountain that's 14,000msl high (and they're using radio-controlled blasting to tunnel through the mountain).

there... that should cover THAT.. Tongue

Tongue

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Reply #3 - Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 1:44am

ThomasKaira Offline
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Brett_Henderson wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2008 at 10:52pm:

Grin

LOL (no)

I forgot to mention, that the railroad tracks would take you through active, restricted airspace, and that Airforce One will pass over them too, on short final... Oh.. and there's a bevy of parachuters near the fringes of the TFR... and a hot air baloon race not far from there. The highway being built along the tracks is going through a mountain that's 14,000msl high (and they're using radio-controlled blasting to tunnel through the mountain).

there... that should cover THAT.. Tongue

Tongue

Shocked

Shocked

Shocked

My Strategy:

Take off, tune VORs, set VOR2 OBS to 155
Fly direct to VOR 1
Reset VOR1 OBS to 085
Fly until VOR2 shows crossover
Descend and land via IAP.
Wink

Wink

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Reply #4 - Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 7:15am

Brett_Henderson Offline
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EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

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Quote:

My Strategy:

Take off, tune VORs, set VOR2 OBS to 155
Fly direct to VOR 1
Reset VOR1 OBS to 085
Fly until VOR2 shows crossover
Descend and land via IAP.

Yes.. that would work well, and would be the way you'd file it IFR. You can't just file IFR direct to an airport, and then hope ATC holds your hand. You have to file a plan that can be followed, IMC, with no ATC.

However.. on a VFR flight, you'd know the winds aloft ( because you're such a thorough flight planner

), and would fly a heading direct to Airport 2; with your two VORs dialed to the intersecting radials. Then,,, whichever needle centered first would be the VOR you'd fly "TO" (or "FROM" in the case of intercepting the VOR 1, 085 radial), waiting on the other needle to center...

Your, IFR route in Green.. the VFR route(s) in blue.

« Last Edit: Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 9:08am by Brett_Henderson »

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Reply #5 - Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 8:47am

beaky Offline
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I agree with your blue lines: generally I try to fly direct by pilotage and DR, using the VORs as a backup, although in this scenario I might look for a decent visual landmark on the chart near the radial line, and plan to intercept there... it depends on other factors.

Another very good reason to avoid flying directly to VORs when VFR is that it vastly increases your chances of meeting another plane by accident. A lot of VFR pilots avoid it, but a IFR training flight with the PIC under the hood will not. Also, many IFR-rated pilots file IFR even when conditions are VMC, in order to practice using the system. they're supposed to be looking outside when it's VMC, but... they may not. Every pilot trying to nail a VOR station is going to soend more time looking at that needle than looking outside; this is obvious. ATC can help, and in fact they are the safety net when IFR flights converge on a VOR in IMC, but Flight Following may not cover everybody's butt in this VMC scenario.
It's much safer to fly an arc towards the outbound radial, avoiding the station itself, and cutting the corner saves you time and fuel. Just a few miles is enough, no need to do anything radical. I always make sure the needle is sensing that outbound radial and moving towards the center before I veer towards it, to be sure I won't wander away from it.

Of course, if I have two nav tuners available, I would have VOR2 tuned in just in case I reach my ETA for the airport and don't see it... the intersection of the two radials is a very useful tool. Even if I somehow miss even that and still don't have the field in sight, all I have to do is move one or both OBS to find out where I really am, then take it from there.

Having DME capability would obviously make this whole thing much easier, once you know the distance from VOR2 to the airport.

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Reply #6 - Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 8:57am

Brett_Henderson Offline
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VOR Tip 1 :

The VOR gauge and CDI needle do NOT give you heading information.. In this example, the VOR is telling you that IF you were ON the 090 radial AND flying 090, you'd be flying directly FROM the VOR... and at this time, IF you were flying 090, the radial would be to your right (CDI deflected to the right). You could fly in random circles (every possible heading) and the CDI will not center, if that course keeps you north of the 090 radial.

All the VOR/CDI tells you, is your position relative to the selected radial. In this example, let's say our dizzy pilot wanted to fly directly to the VOR, but only on the 090 radial. Remember, you can spin the OBS at any time until the CDI centers (indicating which radial you're on at THAT instant) with a 'TO' (arrow up) to get the heading that will take you to the VOR from your current position. Anyway... to get to the VOR on the 090 radial; you'd dial in the reciprocal (270), and see this:

Telling you that your selected radial is to your left (relative to the OBS setting of 270) and that you'd need to fly a heading significantly left of 270 (the larger the CDI delection, the larger the heading difference) to intercept that radial.

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Reply #7 - Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 9:02am

Brett_Henderson Offline
Colonel
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

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Posts: 3593

Quote:

I agree with your blue lines: generally I try to fly direct by pilotage and DR, using the VORs as a backup, although in this scenario I might look for a decent visual landmark on the chart near the radial line, and plan to intercept there... it depends on other factors.

Another very good reason to avoid flying directly to VORs when VFR is that it vastly increases your chances of meeting another plane by accident. A lot of VFR pilots avoid it, but a IFR training flight with the PIC under the hood will not. Also, many IFR-rated pilots file IFR even when conditions are VMC, in order to practice using the system. they're supposed to be looking outside when it's VMC, but... they may not. Every pilot trying to nail a VOR station is going to soend more time looking at that needle than looking outside; this is obvious. ATC can help, and in fact they are the safety net when IFR flights converge on a VOR in IMC, but Flight Following may not cover everybody's butt in this VMC scenario.
It's much safer to fly an arc towards the outbound radial, avoiding the station itself, and cutting the corner saves you time and fuel. Just a few miles is enough, no need to do anything radical. I always make sure the needle is sensing that outbound radial and moving towards the center before I veer towards it, to be sure I won't wander away from it.

Of course, if I have two nav tuners available, I would have VOR2 tuned in just in case I reach my ETA for the airport and don't see it... the intersection of the two radials is a very useful tool. Even if I somehow miss even that and still don't have the field in sight, all I have to do is move one or both OBS to find out where I really am, then take it from there.

Having DME capability would obviously make this whole thing much easier, once you know the distance from VOR2 to the airport.

I agree, and it's good to mention what you've mentioned... Keeps everything in perspective, and keeps the piloting state of mind going re: navigation in general.

All we're trying to do here, is learn about VOR radial interception and tracking.

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Reply #8 - Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 10:31am

Brett_Henderson Offline
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VOR Tip 2:

If you've read this far, and are still befuddled by VORs (and have studied that thread).. Stick with us here. I promise it will click eventually. I'm prepared to stay with Part 5 until it does... So feel free to post questions, no matter how simple (or complicated) you think they might be. I've seen veteran pilots who are still intimidated by VOR navigation. All it takes is repetition and exposure (and asking questions)..

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Reply #9 - Jan 4^th, 2008 at 6:26pm

SubZer0 Offline
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Brett_Henderson wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2008 at 7:15am:

[quote]

However.. on a VFR flight, you'd know the winds aloft ( because you're such a thorough flight planner

), and would fly a heading direct to Airport 2; with your two VORs dialed to the intersecting radials. Then,,, whichever needle centered first would be the VOR you'd fly "TO" (or "FROM" in the case of intercepting the VOR 1, 085 radial), waiting on the other needle to center...

[img]

You've lost me here. How do you dial two VORs to the intersecting radials? The intersecting radial in the picture is the airport correct? Which is where the two radials from each VOR meet. I don't understand how you can use two VORs to get to one point. How would you tune that with the radios?

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Reply #10 - Jan 4^th, 2008 at 6:51pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
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Quote:

You've lost me here. How do you dial two VORs to the intersecting radials? The intersecting radial in the picture is the airport correct? Which is where the two radials from each VOR meet. I don't understand how you can use two VORs to get to one point. How would you tune that with the radios?

Good question

You'd have Nav-1 tuned to VOR-1, and Nav-2 tuned to VOR-2... Then you'd dial in the two radials with each OBS..

As you flew to the airport, neither CDI would be centered.. you'd just be flying in the general direction. Eventually, you'd hit one of those radials and that CDI would center. .. Then, you start tracking that radial, waiting for the other CDI to center.

Of course, you could be such a good pre-flight planner that your heading took you right to the airport, in which case both CDIs would center simultaneously...

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Reply #11 - Jan 4^th, 2008 at 7:03pm

SubZer0 Offline
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That's what I was thinking, just wanted to be sure.

So that basically means that when both of the CDIs are centered, you're right over the airport, right?

I also understand that using two VORs, you don't have to fly directly from a VOR to the airport (as I have been doing), but you can just fly there directly using two VORs. Didn't know that. Now I actually have a reason to use that VOR2 gauge Grin

Grin

Anything else I'm not catching here, Brett?

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Reply #12 - Jan 4^th, 2008 at 7:31pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
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EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

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You're catching on. VOR navigation in theory, is easy... it's just that the VORs themselves are kinda counter-intuitive. Once it clicks, it clicks. It's not always about flying all the way to a VOR, and then on to another VOR. Sometimes it's like what we've done here.

You'd still be using both VORs even if you followed the green course. Unless of course you wanted to keep switching frequencies and changing OBS settings to see if you were near, or at the intersection.

Quote:

So that basically means that when both of the CDIs are centered, you're right over the airport, right?

Right... when a CDI is centered, you're ON that radial (regardless of your heading). If both CDIs are centered, you're on both radials.. and there's only one place where one plane can be on both of those radials..

Also.. if you have a DME (like the MSFS C172 does).. you could just intersect one radial and then track it until you're at the known distance from that VOR.. i.e Airport-2 is on the 085 radial at DME 16.5nm

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Reply #13 - Jan 4^th, 2008 at 7:38pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
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EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
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ALSO.. many instrument fixes, waypoints and holds are VOR radial intersections... So it's a good thing to get comfortable with plotting them, and flying to them.

OR.. picture this: You're lost and drag out your VFR sectional. You find two VORs that you're pretty sure you can receive (within range). Start a nice, shallow turn and then commence to get yourself unlost... Tune the two vors in... spin one OBS until the CDI centers... spin the other OBS until its CDI centers... TA DA.. you're right where those two radials intersect

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Reply #14 - Jan 4^th, 2008 at 7:39pm

SubZer0 Offline
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Great

Cheesy

Now that we have that cleared up, how do I find the distance of an airport from a VOR? Can this be found at SkyVector?

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