The thought of getting lost in aeroplane is scary and one that I think leads people to having problems with nav. I'll guess that you are spending as much time worrying about getting lost than actually navigating and flying. The most important thing I learnt for my PPL is that preparation on the ground is far more important than having to do it in the air. I'll tell you what I do, hope it's of some help.
1) Before I go flying, before I even leave the house, I decide on my route. Then, in the comfort of home I sort out my map and fill in what I can on my flight log as regards headings, speeds + frequencies etc. Be happy about where you are going and anything you may encounter along the way. Look out for obvious landmarks and any nav aids that may well be useful. If you find some, work out how you will use them to aid your navigation.
2) When deciding on waypoints, pick things that are obvious. Don't use a road that you are flying at 90 degrees to as a marker. You could hit the road but be 10 miles off track. Find a bridge along the road, an intersection or a town village nearby. Look for identifiers such as lakes or high ground you may see. If you are struggling at first, use as many waypoints as you want. My FI used to recommend initailly about 15nm between each point.
3) Be happy you have everything you need before you set off to the airfield. Leave in plenty of time so you can complete your planning and relax before your flight. Rushing gets you nowhere. In fact it breeds mistakes.
4) When you arrive at the field check the r/w in use. Get the met brief and check for NOTAMS along you chosen route. If you are unsure, ASK! That's what instructors are paid for.
5) Calmly then sit down and complete your planning. Do it twice if needs be to make absolutely sure that everything is correct. Once it's done and you are happy chill out for twenty minutes or so.
6) Once you get out to do your pre-flight, if there is anything at all you are not happy with then bin the flight. It's better when you are concentrating on nav not to have to fiddle with dodgy squelch buttons or faulty transponders. Make sure your radios, VOR's etc. are tuned in correctly before departure.
7) Before you take off, be sure of how you are departing the field in terms of heights, headings etc. Note what your first waypoint is and how long it should take to get there. I would advise you choose something you are familiar with for your first waypoint so you cannot miss it. At Kissimmee I used to use Disney World, you could hit it every time.
8) Once you are in the cruise, remember your FREDA checks and just relax. Be confident in your calculations (which should be checked by an FI before TO) and fly your plan. If you approach the qual x/c thinking you will fail it, you most probably will. If your instructor didn't think you were ready, they wouldn't have sent you twice.
Finally, don't give up. When you get your PPL, and you will, you will sit back and wonder what all the worry was about.
Good luck.
PS I'll just add, if people at your club are going on lessons and you are hanging around doing nothing, ask them, in the nicest way possible, if they would mind you jumping in the back seat with a map. You can sit there quietly and just look and learn to relate the map to the ground and vice versa. Plenty of people were doing it when I did my PPL (obviously not when the student was solo) and it helped a great deal.
[ 07 January 2002: Message edited by: bow5 ]</p>