No, my instructors didn't go out of their way to explain how to use the nav computer. But I found it relatively straight forwards just by following the instructions in the booklet that came with it. The AFE/J. Pratt PPL syllabus books have further instructions on the basics in them.
The main thing seems to be practise. The more you use it, the better you get at using it. The other thing that still takes me a while is doing the rough calculations that give you an idea of the scale of the answer that you are expecting.
I guess it seems anachronistic in this day of 'real' <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> computers to have to use a ciruclar slide rule, but as others will point out, the batteries can never fail in a CRP-5. But on the other hand, a real computer will tell you the answer without having to pre-calculate a rough answer!
I assume you are having trouble with the slide rule bit and not the wind calcultions. If you are having trouble with the wind calculations, make sure you understand the theory behind what you are trying to acheive and then just practise, practise, practise.
[ 07 January 2002: Message edited by: tacpot ]</p>