Originally Posted by
ZeBedie
Would it not be better to teach all cross countries with skydemon, whilst maintaining a plog and following progress on a chart?
I would suggest that the general principles of GPS navigation should be taught and that students should be aware than there are many different flight planning and navigation applications and platforms to run them on.
I have never used, or even seen, SkyDemon but I learned to use various VFR and IFR GPS based navigation systems without needing any instruction.
A potential killer is that VFR pilots become very familiar with DIR TO navigation and may try to use it in IMC without knowing what terrain or obstructions are on that DIR TO route. It must be empaphasized that the convenience of DIR TO navigation is not a substitute for proper flight planning.