First solo nav..... any advice?

[Ian_Wannabe]

Hey hey,
Well, the weather is looking good for tomorrow and i'm all planned and set to do my first solo navigation ex.

Hawarden - Crewe - Wrexham - Hawarden

So do you people have any tips that would help me?
I'm thinking of the little pointers that might help with recognising landmarks, or things that will make my RT more acceptable etc :p

Anything that you guys 'n girls found would have helped when you did your very first solo nav. ex would be good.

Cheers,

wow its sunny..... :cool:

Ian

[HelenD]

Take your time over the planning, dont panic, study the map well before you fly to give you an idea of what to look for. Think the route through in your head beforehand. Above all remember if your instructor diddnt think you were up to it you would not be going on your own. Good luck and have fun.

[Saab Dastard]

Have a bottle of water with you!

SD

[Bluebeard2]

Do your planning well, don't forget to check the NOTAMs. Don't get too bummed out if things don't turn out quite as planned - expect the unexpected. Make sure you are happy with you rejoin procedures.

Oh, and if its sunny, be careful if you're flying early morning/evening - having the sun right in your eyes is 'interesting', especially with a bit of haze :ooh:

Other than that...don't forget to enjoy!:cool:

[knobbygb]

Be assured that your planning and route will be very thoroughly checked by your instructor before you go anywhere. You ARE ready for this or you wouldn't be allowed to go.

The route will be one used regularly by the club for this purpose and will have been chosen because it will be virtually impossible to get lost or make any major mistakes, so relax and take it in your stride, but most importantly - enjoy it!

Remember how satisfying it was doing your first solo - looking across at the EMPTY right hand seat! Well, your first navex, is in many ways, more satisfying. You, and only you, will be making the command decisions (without your instructor being able to watch you through the window and listen in on the radio). For this reason you will be more relaxed and will probably fly the most accurate navigation you will ever do.

Before I did my trip, I was so nervous I couldn't get the key in to start the engine. One hour later I walked back into the club house about a foot taller. THAT was when I became a pilot. Great experience :cool:

One point to add to what HelenD said - run through in your mind all the radio calls you'll have to make too (not that you'll actualy have to talk to anyone other than Hawarden on that route - unless you accidentally fly into the MAN class D :p). This is what worried me most. I KNEW I could fly the a/c and wouldn't get lost, but was worried that ATC would ask me to do somthing odd I'd never heard of.

Anyway, In a few weeks you'll be thinking how easy it was and will be happy to fly the same route without even looking at the map, let alone drawing lines on it! You'll be posting here this time tommorow evening telling us how well it went and counting down the hours to you QXC!

Oh, one other point - looking out of my window now (7:45pm) reminds me that the vis can be really crapppy in the evening when flying into the sun. What time are you flying? Keep this in mind if it's an evening sortie.

[Tall_guy_in_a_152]

Clean the windscreen before you leave!

The recent hot weather has brought insects out by the thousand and many of them will end up squashed on the screen. Ask at your club for suitable cleaner and a rag if you don't know where they are kept.

The extra visibility will make navigating and landing much easier, particularly in the conditions Bluebeard and Knobby mentioned.

TG.

[Ian_Wannabe]

omg wow I cant beleive how excited i'm getting just from reading all of your posts :O

great tips thanks very much, I just now hope that this warm front doesnt make the visability too poor for me to go.......

Thanks!

Oh btw knob, i'm flying at 4pm.... should be better at that time

[Keygrip]

Do, on your nav, just exactly what you have done here....

IF IN DOUBT - ASK!!

I'm sure Shawbury or Liverpool would give you all the help you could ask for.

[Whirlybird]

Crewe is about the easiest place in the UK to positively identify; it's surrounded by loads of railway lines.

Have fun. My first solo nav was the absolute highlight of my PPL course.

[PPPPP]

As Whirlybird says, you can't really go wrong inbound to Crewe. As long as you have the Calveley radio telescope (large white round dish) on your left you can't miss it:) You'll probably be able to see that from the overhead. It's also an excellent lead-in to Ashcroft when you're joining the LLR from the south
If in doubt just remember that Shawbury Radio is sitting there just waiting to help you along:)

[Keygrip]

If in doubt just remember that Shawbury Radio is sitting there just waiting to help you along

For gawds sake - DON'T call them Shawbury RADIO. They are an ATC service - Shawbury RADAR would be more welcome by the guys and gals that have been to ATC school for donkeys years.

INBOUND Crewe - easy - as said.

OUTBOUND Crewe - MAKE SURE it's the right railway line that you are following. (Been there, got that T-shirt. Sorry, Manchester).

Let us know how it went!!

[PPPPP]

For gawds sake - DON'T call them Shawbury RADIO.

Oops! Slip of the brain, apologies, I did of course mean RADAR.

[Kolibear]

Be patient. If your landmark is due to come up in 10 minutes, don't start panicing if it hasn't come in view after 5 minutes.

Remember the 5 Pees - Pre-flight Planning Prevents Pi55-poor Performance.

Study the map and know the route. then study the map again. If you know what to expect - it makes the trip so much easier.

Enjoy it - its better than your first solo.

[flyingwysiwyg]

Have a bottle of water with you!

What a great bit of advice, I wish someone had said that to me before my first solo nav ex. Mouth like the inside of a flip flop!

The very best of luck! You'll be fine! Fly as if your instructor were next to you. :ok:

Have Fun,

FWyg

[N14HK]

Fly your IAS and wind adjusted headings as accurately as you possibly can.

If you do this, the chances are you will end up at your destination at the time you expected, without having to make any adjustments to your plan.

[FlyingForFun]

Just be careful you don't drink too much out of that bottle of water, or it could be an uncomfortable flight :eek:

And I think I'll keep quiet about the fact that I called Farnborough Radio for a MATZ penetration last year.... :O Oops, too late! (But I did correct myself before anyone noticed...)

My main tip would be to have fun - definitely one of the best parts of getting the PPL, so enjoy it! :ok:

FFF
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[Speedbird252]

Hey Ian_Wannabe how did it go? Ive got mine tomorrow and Im curious as to how you got on!!

Cheers, Speedy

[Ian_Wannabe]

Hey,
Thanks again for all your help - but unfortunatly I didnt get to go because of the haze bringing the vis down :{

Oh well, another day I suppose!

I'll keep these tips handy and let you know how it goes when I finally do it.

Cheers,

Ian

[Ian_Wannabe]

I didnt know I could get this high....... wow - I just got back from my first solo nav. and it was amazing!!!

Thank you all so much for your tips, they came in handy - especially the bottled water one Saab :p

It all went perfect, ETA to ATA were bang on, recognised my landmarks along the way, everything was smooth - even the vis was good for a change. The only thing I did get wrong was turning too early on my 2nd to last checkpoint, which meant I was offcourse slightly on my second to last leg and closer to Beaston Castle than originally planned - "Beaston Castle was smaller last time surely?" - But quickly rectified I was back on course

"yay!" :O

Thanks!

[PPPPP]

Well done Ian, enjoy the feeling cos it just gets better from here.
The only better one is when the first waypoint appears on the nose during the Skill Test:)