We were flying NDB approaches last night as part of our company sim syllabus...in the B747...and we have all the bells and whistles, too. NDB's are still used in many parts of the world. The basics in flying them are inherent to understanding navigation, because they're as simple as nav can get. Bearing to, bearing from, heading, and correcting for wind.
Whether or not you intend to use one regularly, there's a lot to be learned from understanding ADF principles. We combined an engine failure with a full procedure turn and NDB approach. In fact, last night the scenario was a departure at San Fransisco with a #4 engine failure. After that was contained we developed a lower aft cargo fire, and requested a return to SFO. The weather went down to NDB minimums, and the sim instructor failed all the SFO approaches, meaning we only had the NDB to fly.
That's not necessarily real-world...in fact the approach we were flying is a training approach that's not even available for SFO. However, the applicability of the procedure and the need to be able to do it is. The RMI is an instrument found in many general aviation airplane, as is the ADF. On the RMI, one flies a VOR approach and an NDB approach exactly the same way; there's no difference in the way it's displayed. The same features are available in displayed format on many GPS displays, and even FMS displays.
Even with GPS and FMS equipment, also becoming more and more common in many light airplanes, the display heads, particularly digital type and other electronic displays, often include a compass rose with moving pointers and needles that function exactly as a RMI...being able to interpret them and use them is a very useful skill.
During this session, one of the display units, the EHSI on the first officer side, failed (physically failed). In real life, we could still get down, but it was defeating our training goals, so we knocked off for the night. When we got out of the sim, the next group coming in after us wanted to know what squawks (problems) the sim had. The first thing they said when we told them about the bad display was "you still have the RMI don't you? What's the problem?" It's still a viable tool, you see...and if you think the GPS is the be-all end-all, and that you don't need to learn to properly navigate using all the tools, then you may have a nasty surprise coming to you one of these days.
LEARN THE BASICS!!