Originally Posted by Superpilot
Some bad points:
1.) Extremely difficult to use in the air, when work load is high.
2.) Navigation side impossible to use without a pencil (and pencils do like getting lost)
3.) Incredibly difficult to learn for new generation of (computer savvy) students who have never seen anything so archaic.
4.) Innaccurate.
5.) Too big in some cases.
1. It is for pre-flight planning purposes. In the air, use the various airbourne techniques for making changes to what you planned based on actual conditions. In this respect, I would also not condone the use of an electronic version in the air either.
2. Not the case at all. I use the Jeppesen circular CRPs and they do not need a pencil mark. It does help though. Yes pencils and pens get lost but if you can't draw a line on your map then you are probably not going to need the CRP anyway.
You will need to draw a line on your map for an unplanned diversion as well as noting down various times, frequencies etc enroute so the lack of any writing device at planning stage does not bode well for the navigation exercise.
3. Easy to use and easy to learn if not too lazy and the instructor knows what they are talking about. Practice is all that is required.
4. Is easily accurate to +/- 2 degrees. You can not fly as accurate as that and the metoffice can not predict the winds as accurate as that.
5. Get yourself a small one. The Jeppesen circular CRPs come in various sizes and the smaller one fits in the plam of your hand.
With practice, one can complete the drift and groundspeed calculations in your head. That also requires practice and it not for the lazy.
Regards,
DFC