What kind of Check Airmen truly believe that pilots need to understand this, in order to fly airplanes? Either a cockpit VOR course indicator has an off flag, or it doesn't (and with an internal failure, it might not). The pilot should ident the VOR freq before he/she begins an approach.
People have told me that the Japanese Airline ground schools require pilots with thirty years (retired TWA, NWA etc) of operational airline flying to understand radio theory, before a 55-year old pilot can get into the ANA or JAL simulator. This is almost unbelievable.
