Pilot Navigation

[Bates106]

Do any of ya know what is involved in pilot navigation exercise in the Private pilots licence? What should you study? Any tips on Navigation?

[MakeItHappenCaptain]

Hot tip: Listen to your instructor. Learn the rules.

There are that many different ways of teaching nav you will just get confused by asking everyone's methods in a forum like this.

The principle of navigation is if you fly for a set time and speed in a set direction you will end up in a certain place.

[PyroTek]

Situational Awareness! "Where am I? - in relation to what?"

:ok:Pyro

[rioncentu]

Don't get lost on your PPL test like I, err um, A friend of mine did.

He did manage to pass the "lost procedure" that day though.

Maintain heading !!!

[drunkensailor]

I didn't know you had completed your PPL pyro.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

In its most basic form the key to visual navigation, IMHO, is:

1) the ability to fly a consistent heading/track
2) speed/distance/time to next check-point/destination
3) good map reading skills - look at the big picture
4) 10 nm/time checks along your track
5) 1:60 as required
6) know where you are at all times!

It still fascinates me how we used to find a spot in the middle of nowhere using the above!

Dr :8

[tmpffisch]

I take it that you've just begun, or about to start your PPL nav training.

Just read through your PPL study book, whether it be the Bob Tait one, or the 7 ATC PPL/CPL books. Those explain the theory required sufficiently.

In terms of advice, these threads should contain everything you need:

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-aviation-questions/83935-how-navigate-visually.html

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-aviation-questions/96469-map-reading-techniques-what-do-you-use-does-work.html

PPL navigation is pretty straight forward, you'll do fine. Any hassles or queries please ask, but the above threads are quite handy.

[Ultralights]

the biggest thing i find with students, NOT doing, is Looking at the big picture, the coast is behind you, mountains in front, so you should be on a westerly heading... etc etc oh and try not to let your heading drift when your head is down doing calculations etc if the aircraft is trimmed correctly, it wil fly straight, some students will do 90eg turns while looking at maps or doing fuel calcs, then continue straight ahead on the new(incorrect) heading.

[UnderneathTheRadar]

I thought pilot navigation was not getting lost on the way to the airport, making sure you find the right plane and not getting separated from it during the flight....

Aicraft navigation, now that's a whole different story......

[Captain Sand Dune]

I thought no civvy aircraft dared venture outside the circuit area without a serviceable GPS.:}

[Ultralights]

the aircraft will, its just that some (most) of the pilots wont!

[PyroTek]

...Looking at the big picture, the coast is behind you, mountains in front, so you should be on a westerly heading...

What if you happen to be flying in WA? :E

I didn't know you had completed your PPL pyro.
Yep.:ok:


:ok:Pyro

[Ultralights]

everything backwards over there! go east! :}

[j3pipercub]

"I thought no civvy aircraft dared venture outside the circuit area without a serviceable GPS"

Maybe, but at least we don't need flight suits to do circuits in glorfied airtourers or need the tower to remind us to check our gear is down :)

j3

[maverick22]

The 5 P's: Prior Preparation Prevents P%ss-Poor Performance. (Maybe that's 6 P's then).

Remember a well prepared flight plan always helps. Make sure wind drift has been applied correctly, fuel figures added up correctly etc. (double check) Make sure you have a watch with the correct time set. The amount of times I had students show up without a watch on their Navs :ugh:

Also plan your arrival at the other end. Brief yourself well in advance on how you're going to join the circuit etc. Its one thing finding your way to the destination, but it another to correctly join the circuit (especially if there are right hand circuits or noise abatement procedures).

So basically its a matter of being prepared, staying well ahead of the aircraft and as Ultralights said, not losing sight of the big picture:ok:

It all comes with practise

[rifdas]

Listen to the Dr.

Just be carefull not to set your TAS as your track. Seem's simple but I was checking a pilot to line on a King Air and he had 6000 + hours, grade 1 M/E instructor rating and he set the TAS and I did the same on my PPL flight test. I was lucky setting 120 instead of 125. It was a very short sector and I was within the tracking limits. I only realised the error when I set the next track!!. Do some "back seat" Nav's with other students if possible. Take your WAC charts and a copy of the flight plan. You can do a NAV and the other student "back seats" yours, well that happened in my day!!

Best of Luck

Rifdas

[mattyj]

if the aircraft is trimmed correctly, it wil fly straight,

Wow you obviously didn't do cross countries in a piper tomahawk!

(or a c150 for that matter)

[Aerozepplin]

Indeed. Flying for three hours holding half a ball of rudder to keep straight gets annoying after a while. Cherokees with their fancy rudder trim are fantastic once you've done that a couple times.

[training wheels]

One of the important lessons to learn when navigating is to check that your DG is aligned with compass. Check this every now and again (at 10 minute intervals, at least ..it only takes a second to check), whether flying VFR or IFR.

[NOSIGN]

Bates106,

I remember that the most stand-out Nav issue that I had during my PPL was that I wanted to account for every road, building and power line on the map :8. I had drawn out my trackline on the WAC chart and during flight i'd expect to see outside my window what was meant to be below me :cool:.

My advice summmarised (and my instructors at the time): "don't sweat the small stuff".

If you miss an intersection, powerline, lake, structure here or there, don't let it take away from your confidence. Aim for the next one and rely on your calculations/ estimates :ok:.

Once you have it, keep using it from time to time when you have an opportunity. When time or $ isn't the immediate concern, or when feeling rusty, plan a VFR flight using a map only. Re-visit basic principles and either let your ego be crushed :ouch: or hightened :cool: by knowing that you can/ can't nav by relating ground features to your flightpath.

Keep flying,

[Bates106]

Thank all, you all have made me understand navigation!!!:):):):)

Thanks

[PyroTek]

is to check that your DG is aligned with compass. Check this every now and again (at 10 minute intervals, at least ..it only takes a second to check)

CLEAROFF checks prevail. Very useful :ok:
Also, I heard a figure, apparently DG's like to wander at a rate of about 7° every 15 minutes. - Don't hold me to that though, maybe it's just specifically the aircraft I fly :p

[TSIO540]

It has been my experience that a lot of students approaching a pre-test do not know how to read a map and many instructors cannot teach it correctly.

I found that students were able to navigate much more effectively when given a tool to actually measure distance rather than wildly guess. I taught my students that when judging your distance to a feature on the map, you should find two remote features about the same distance apart as the original feature is from you (or at an easy ratio like double or half the distance).
With that, then you can measure the distance between the two remote features with a ruler on the map and gain an appreciation of your distance to the original feature.... it takes about 10 seconds

[UnderneathTheRadar]

Best rule of "thumb" I ever learnt for map reading - even used it for flight planning.

Your thumb, at the widest spot, is approx 11nm on a WAC and 3nm on a VTC.

Wanna measure a distance, get the thumb out. For anything you're likely to need inflight - it's a good enough approxmiation and saves you needing to stuff around with rulers.


Also, DONT look out the window for every feature. For a leg of say 20 minutes, do a gross error check at the start, maybe look for one town/city/mountain in the 1st 10 minutes, do your 1 in 60 and then wait til your revised arrival time.

As soon as you start feature-hopping you'll find it very hard not to turn back towards what you think your track should be - don't! If you know you're off track it's not a big deal as long as you maintain heading until the 1/2 way point, work out the drift, double it and turn back towards it (i.e. do a 1-in-60).

If you feature hop and change track continually then you've got no hope of figuring out what the actual winds and hence drift angle should be and no hope of arriving over your next turning point.

UTR

[eeper23]

Navigation is easy as mate - just stick your nose in the direction the pink line on your GPS is pointing towards. Nothing hard about that ! :}

[Tinstaafl]

As others have intimated, there's nothing wrong with getting off track - that's the *normal* state of affairs! The problems come with not recognising the off track position in a reasonable time, fixing position and correcting back to track.

I too have a calibrated thumb. My right** thumb when bent at 90 deg is 20 nm on 1:1mil chart from tip to first joint when bent. 10nm from tip to nail root. Damned convenient of Lambert & his cohorts to make their maps to suit my thumb!


**Strangely, not my left. That one is a mile or two out.

[slow n low]

Use a workcycle, whatever it is they teach you. Practice this at home over and over (visualise). Walk around your back yard quacking to yourself till you can rattle it of without thinking.

Clock - Map - Ground
Big to small (features)
Natural to man made (big hills don't move, but houses, windmills and silos might)

Works a treat, use the GPS to back up YOUR nav, not the other way round...:ouch:

Remember also anyone with a grudge and some knowledge can get gear from an electronics store to jam GPS signals. Lots of punters will be caught out the day it happens. :bored:

[Deaf]

Map - Ground

I always thought Ground to Map was the preferred way.

Nail the Actual wind ASAP and keep it under review.

[FRQ Charlie Bravo]

All great tips. If I may add one consider setting a deliberate off track heading:

Say you're travelling East to an impossible to find feature like a tree in the shape of a Y along a fence running North - South. Rather than navigating like a devil fretting about perfect GS and perfect 1 in 60s just intentionally fly a bit to one side and then when you reach the fence you know that if you're not at the feature you must be to the North or South (allow the off track to affect you the same as an otherwise uncorrecte crosswind i.e. all factors sending you a bit to the same side). At best you happen upon it at the perfect time, at worst you then fly an extra minute rather than 5 or 10. It's worked well for me.

Anybody disagree (not looking for an argument, just interested).

FRQ CB

Oh, and Google Earth is not cheating, not for PPL anyway (you may or may not have time to Google Earth on your CPL exam... I did and I still ballsed it up).