Having had an ex-Valley pilot attempt to take a PPL Skill Test with no idea about flight planning beyond 'MDR', I've viewed the idea of MDR for pre-flight planning with much concern. Although as means of gross error checking proper pre-flight planning, it has some merit.
MDR is great for in-flight use, for example, when working out heading and time to a diversion. But it is
completely inadequate for pre-flight planning in low speed light aircraft, which are far more affected by the W/V than are fast jets aircraft.
It's the whole dumbing down of flying instruction yet again. When I went through CFS, visual navigation was very poorly taught indeed - and that was almost 25 years ago. I was taught to a much higher standard when I was a UAS student back in the early 1970s than I was as a student instructor at CFS in the early 1990s. When I reached my UAS as a QFI, it was obvious that most other QFIs hated teaching navigation, basically because it required far too much effort on their behalf. Much easier just to bog off and do yet another GH/circuits trip in the local area play pen....
Pre-flight MDR is insufficiently accurate for the PPL Skill Test. For which an applicant may use any planning system he/she wishes, whether that be the whizz-wheel, an electronic computer, Internet-sourced software or whatever. All of which will reduce the likelihood of pre-flight planning errors. Faffing about trying to apply MDR before flight in an EFTS Plastic Pig is completely nugatory, when proper planning is often quicker.....
For the time being, I've agreed to maintain existing NPPL accreditation for QMPs and EFTGs, but I'm keeping a close eye on NST failure rates....
