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I binned my first attempt at my NFT due to poor nav technique and then flew with an instructor, ex RAF who showed me the standard closing angle method and the 1-4-7 and 1-5-6 technique after that I never bothered with the constantly off track technique again and its a lot easier!
GPS etc are all good but are not totally reliable, nothing wrong with map clock compass.
No disrespect but how can you pass if you get lost on a test?
GPS etc are all good but are not totally reliable, nothing wrong with map clock compass.
No disrespect but how can you pass if you get lost on a test?
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Fair comment dp but I thought in the original post that he stated that he was'nt very good at track error corrections.
"but when it comes to making course corrections im useless"
Which is probably why he became temporarily unsure of his position no doubt!
Good on him for trying to do something about it but I agree with BEagles post on this one.
PC
"but when it comes to making course corrections im useless"
Which is probably why he became temporarily unsure of his position no doubt!
Good on him for trying to do something about it but I agree with BEagles post on this one.
PC
Last edited by Professional Cynic; 2nd May 2005 at 19:51.
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GPS etc are all good but are not totally reliable, nothing wrong with map clock compass.
Your method of navigation isn't even appropriate to the UK and it's mass of low level airspace.
The only thing one can say for it is that within the 45hr PPL it is all there is time to teach, given the junk planes people have to rent they can't rely on anything in the instrument panel to survive the flight (even if it works to start with) and absolutely nobody in flight training wants a more expensive PPL on their price list. They already see a constant year on year drop in students.
You may be an exception and if so that's great, but I usually find that the anti-GPS people do most of their "flying" over a beer or three, and if they have done any significant distance ever it was decades back when the world was a different place.
Today, you need to be 100% sure of your position, and there is no OBE to be had if one c0cks it up.
Radio navigation also just happens to produce a much lower cockpit workload, which makes flying a lot more fun and the pilot is far less likely to join the vast majority of new PPLs that chuck flying in permanently in the first year or two - many of them doing so because they realise (correctly) that the skills they have been taught are really quite inadequate for going anywhere for real. Not that the average school gives a damn; their motivation is taking money off people.
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Woah easy tiger.
I have flown in France and many other places without GPS and managed quite nicely.
I am not anti GPS in any way (got a lovely 296) but quite simply if you are flying VFR you cannot rely on GPS and nav aids all the time. GPS has dropped out a few times for no apparent reason and batteries and power leads have failed, I have been unable to use nav aids due to being in remote places and at low level due to weather (not exactly flying in airways are we?) to avoid some of the airspace you have mentioned. Guess what when everything else failed I looked out of the window picked up my map and set the stopwatch going, and never got lost.
The original post was about navigation and not use of technology I am a huge fan of GPS and use it on a regular basis but you still need to be able to navigate using conventional techniques have you ever had a GPS failure or been unable to use a navaid? It does happen!
Thats exactly why the CAA make us pass a nav test without relying on GPS and navaids!
Technology is a tool but only a tool relies (100%) on technology.
I have flown in France and many other places without GPS and managed quite nicely.
I am not anti GPS in any way (got a lovely 296) but quite simply if you are flying VFR you cannot rely on GPS and nav aids all the time. GPS has dropped out a few times for no apparent reason and batteries and power leads have failed, I have been unable to use nav aids due to being in remote places and at low level due to weather (not exactly flying in airways are we?) to avoid some of the airspace you have mentioned. Guess what when everything else failed I looked out of the window picked up my map and set the stopwatch going, and never got lost.
The original post was about navigation and not use of technology I am a huge fan of GPS and use it on a regular basis but you still need to be able to navigate using conventional techniques have you ever had a GPS failure or been unable to use a navaid? It does happen!
Thats exactly why the CAA make us pass a nav test without relying on GPS and navaids!
Technology is a tool but only a tool relies (100%) on technology.
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Eoin,
I see from another thread that you might be looking to go rotary wing and it would be interesting to hear any differences between nav techniques.
To your main point, as you do more flying, the nav will get easier because you will begin to be more comfortable with the flying and communicating. There are those out there who love the gadgets and would not go with a gps and some form of radio nav kit. I have nothing against that. But I find that there is immense satisfaction to be gained from navigating the old fashioned way successfully.
It is your choice how you choose to navigate, but good airmanship (in my book at least) dictates that you should be able to use a chart and compass to get you home if all else fails.
I hope that your struggle with nav doesn't put you off flying. Believe those that have said we have all been there.
I see from another thread that you might be looking to go rotary wing and it would be interesting to hear any differences between nav techniques.
To your main point, as you do more flying, the nav will get easier because you will begin to be more comfortable with the flying and communicating. There are those out there who love the gadgets and would not go with a gps and some form of radio nav kit. I have nothing against that. But I find that there is immense satisfaction to be gained from navigating the old fashioned way successfully.
It is your choice how you choose to navigate, but good airmanship (in my book at least) dictates that you should be able to use a chart and compass to get you home if all else fails.
I hope that your struggle with nav doesn't put you off flying. Believe those that have said we have all been there.
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Cheers for all the helpful advice guys n girls, much food for thought.
My problem is that i dont get flying nearly as much as id like (study commitments) and so it will take a long time to accrue that sort of experience. I do have a GPS (a really good 296) but my main aim is to hone my basic nav skills first and then use it as a backup.
My radio nav is fine; i can get a position fix fine, and even without it I can usually determine my position on a chart visually (let's just forget about the gft fiasco! i have improved a bit since then).
I suppose it is a case of practice makes perfect, and im quite interested in the idea of building hours with other newly minted ppls.
Anybody sherburn based in the same boat??
Many thanks
ETC
My problem is that i dont get flying nearly as much as id like (study commitments) and so it will take a long time to accrue that sort of experience. I do have a GPS (a really good 296) but my main aim is to hone my basic nav skills first and then use it as a backup.
My radio nav is fine; i can get a position fix fine, and even without it I can usually determine my position on a chart visually (let's just forget about the gft fiasco! i have improved a bit since then).
I suppose it is a case of practice makes perfect, and im quite interested in the idea of building hours with other newly minted ppls.
Anybody sherburn based in the same boat??
Many thanks
ETC
