Techniques for seeing the airfield?

[Coke611]

I'm one of those who can never seem to see stuff like the airfield, or some small VRP's.

Without using a navaid such as a VOR/DME, is there any techniques for sighting the airfield, ie pylons etc? (before you are right on top of it!)

At the moment I'm a low hour student PPL, but in may/june i'm going to get some serious hours etc, so is this a skill that just comes with time or are there any techniques?

(hope that makes sense!)

Cheers,

Coke611

[FlyingForFun]

Ooh, good question! I always have similar problems, but here's a few ideas.

The most important thing is to use bigger landmarks to guide you towards smaller ones. The airfield may be small, but the town near it probably isn't, and if the airfield is located next to a prominent corner of the town you've got a good pointer.

Line features are always good. Lots of airfields are next to motorways or railway lines. Pick the line feature up and follow it to the airfield. Be careful about using rivers, though - they can be hard to spot from the air unless they're very big.

Try to imagine what the airfield is going to look like before you take off. Look at the runway layout, and orientate it towards the direction you'll be approaching from. Try to imagine whether the hangar buildings will obscure part of the runway, or whether you'll really be able to see that grass taxyway from the air.

All of those techniques will work for any VRP. But for an airfield, be on the lookout for lots of white crosses on the ground. These are parked aeroplanes. They always look more like crosses than aeroplanes to me unless I'm very close.

I have, on occassion, used other aircraft to locate an airfield - but that only works if the airfield has some other traffic using it, and you can spot the other traffic! Listen out on the airfield's frequency until you hear an aircraft call final. If you can see an aircraft fairly low flying in the runway direction, it's a fair bet that you'll spot the airfield 1/2 mile or so in front of him.

In general, it's grass airfields which are hard to spot. Grass airfields tend to be green. Depending on the time of year and what's growing in nearby fields, it might be the only green field around. But be careful of this one - I've mis-identified at least one airfield because there was a greener field about 1/2 mile away!

If all that doesn't help, then climb. You'd be amazed how much better the view is from 4000'. Just make sure you don't lose sight of the airfield again as you're descending back down to land!

I'm sure there are more ways that I haven't thought of or have never heard of - can't wait to read them!

FFF
---------------

[Go-Around]

My CPL instructor taught me a good method;
1. Pick a blindingly obvious feature close to your chosen waypoint/airfield, e.g. a town, big lake, mast etc.
2. Then take a rough track and distance from the map of big feature to chosen airfield.
3. Look from big feature along rough track and it should hopefully be there.

Just one method, and i'm sure there a loads more out there, and better!
Hope this helps,
GA

[sharpshot]

And when you get your night rating.........ask again:D

[Fly Stimulator]

Coke,

As you'll probably be calling up the airfields for PPR before you go, ask them for any local tips on how to find the place. For example, there's a lake near Sywell which is pretty easy to find. There's a bridge or causeway over that that points straight at the airfield which is a great help.

One thing I sometimes do before I go somewhere new is to look up the field at www.multimap.com (http://www.multimap.com) and then switch to the aerial photo view. That can give you a reasonable idea of what the area looks like, though as FFF mentions, seasonal variations could affect how similar the scene looks when you go there.

The new photo scenery for Flight Simulator uses the same aerial photos, and I think it is now actually good enough to be of at least some use for getting an idea of what to expect when you go somewhere new.

Still, there are times when you just can't seem to spot an airfield no matter how hard you look, especially if your bladder capacity is approaching its design limit. At these moments it's quite handy to glance at the GPS ;)

[dublinpilot]

Little used grass fields can be very hard to find. Especially if there is not any aircraft parked there at the time. In such cases, an orange windsock is often the easiest thing to see!!

[Genghis the Engineer]

My approach is very similar to Go-around's, except that I'd also try and have other references near to or in line with the airstrip from my local start point. This regularly gets me into the circuit of airfields that I don't see until I'm virtually on-top of them.

G

[vancouv]

I think this is one of the things about flying that has caused me the most problems.

It's not too bad if you can join overhead, but if you're flying to one of those pesky airfields that doesn't allow overhead joins I am always sweating and hoping I'm not blundering through the circuit without realising where I am.

And why does Lydd with its huge runway not stand out???????

[ModernDinosaur]

Never mind Lydd, has anyone got a good technique for finding Biggin Hill at night? I swear the runway lights vanish completely if you're more than half-a-mile or 10-degrees off the runway centreline. Thank goodness they've got a VOR/DME!

MD.

[BEagle]

Ever tried finding Spanhoe? The frst time I went there I knew I was in the right vicinity thanks to a combination of KNS80 offset VOR/DME and map reading, but I had a heck of a job picking out the 'runway'. Because, unlike most ex-WW II airfields, the runway is actually a tiny bit of old taxiway! Eventually realised I was right overhead the aerodrome when I spotted the parked aircraft!

Big to small - that's the way to do it!

[gijoe]

I don't think anyone has suggested this one...when you're picking things along to route to use as waypoints, or even the waypoints themselves, have a good look at what is on the map approaching them and use those feature to guide you in.

For example road on stbd leads in from 15 miles out and converges with railway line about 2 miles before waypoint. The other thing that is easy to do is to 'handrail' something like a river or main road, or even railway. Be aware of the bloke doing the same thing the other way though !

I'm sure that nearly everyone had experienced that nauseating feeling of helplessness at least once when you realise that you aren't quite sure of where you are...and the time is ticking on...and the fuel's going down...and it' getting dark...and where you're going doesn't have lights...so break the chain there and then and call 121.5 for help before it gets too bad - they really won't mind.

G :cool:

[FlyingForFun]

Be aware of the bloke doing the same thing the other way thoughOr just stick to the right, like the ANO says ;) And hope the other guy does the same :eek: :D

As for calling 121.5, I agree, they'll always be more than happy to help. Having trouble identifying ground features shouldn't cause you to get lost, because your DR track will take you to the roughly the right place even if you never identify a single ground feature. But if there's any doubt at all, then 121.5 is the right thing to do.

FFF
---------------

[Whirlybird]

A good question, and some excellent advice. I don't have much to add, except for my CPL instructor's hints on how to find short grass strips:

1) It's got to have a runway, so the field must be big enough for a runway (sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed at how often you find yourself looking at tiny fields and wondering if that mown bit is the runway).
2) There will be some sort of building around, probably hangar sized/shaped, probably near the end of the runway, ie nearest the longest length of the field.
3) There will be a road adjoining the field; everyone drives in or out of the airfield, so forget fields with no road access.
4) Find something that fits; then start looking for a windsock.

I was sceptical, but in an area with nothing but fields, where you KNOW there's a strip, it does work.

And finding airfields does seem to be one of those things that just gets easier with experience. Do you want to hear the story of my trying to find Derby, as a very new PPL? It was spring, so I was looking for grass runways with no numbers in the middle of short grass. I not only couldn't see it when I was overhead; I then lost it twice while trying to fly a circuit, and had to be directed all the way round the circuit by a very patient radio operator. :eek: I've been back a few times, with more hours, and found it easily.

[Trislander]

When I am looking for airfields I look for a light coloured or green expanse of land in the general direction of the AD, obviously this is no use when locating a grass strip amongst fields but is usefull when locating hard surfaced runways. Also if it has been raining, hard runways reflect very well.

Also, when you know which runway you are going to be landing on, look at the DI and try to imagine the runway orientation in relation to it and the terrain below. Sounds complex but works really well.

Happy New Year all and Fly safely.
Regards, Trislander

[Penguina]

I find this a big problem. Thanks for the advice. One thing I've found doesn't help, by the way, is panicking...

[singaporegirl]

ModernDinosaur,

Just to the south of Biggin there's a set of tennis courts that is lit up by some very bright white lights (four, I think). Once you've found them, look west and you should see the perimeter road lit up by a line of orange lights. This runs roughly parallel to the runway, so if you look a little to the east of it you should be able to see the runway - though I agree, unless you're directly lined up with it on final approach it can be difficult to spot.