Various PPL Questions

[JShutts]

I have some various PPL questions I would like answering please.
I am starting my PPL training towards the end of this month, and would like to know a few things. I have had some hours onto my log already.

1. How do you navigate?
For example, how do you find your way back to the Airport, or if I am flying
somewhere, how do I get there?

2. Do you own a plane?
If yes, what plane is it and how did you pay for it? Did you have loads of spare money? Got a loan? Finance? Rich? Where did you get your plane from? (UK Only)

3. How long did it take you to get your PPL?
When I ask this, I mean did it take weeks? months? (eg. 4 months), how often did you have a lesson aswell?


Thanks

[worrab]

How do you navigate?
For example, how do you find your way back to the Airport, or if I am flying
somewhere, how do I get there?

This is covered in your practical training. Additionally, there are 6 or 7 books that you will almost certainly need to read and absorb as part of your learning. One or two of these will cover navigation in great detail.. Your instructor will have preferred methods of doing navigation, though the general principals of most approaches are the same.

Do you own a plane?
If yes, what plane is it and how did you pay for it? Did you have loads of spare money? Got a loan? Finance? Rich? Where did you get your plane from? (UK Only)

You may buy your own plane, but that's pretty unusual and can cause other complications. Most folk go to a flying school/club and hire their aircraft. Some Flight Training Organisations offer an all-inclusive per hour rate, others charge for the plane and the instructor separately. (Some FTOs would like you so pay thousands up front for a discounted rate - this is inherently risky and you'll find on PPrune a number of unhappy people who have lost money this way)

How long did it take you to get your PPL?
When I ask this, I mean did it take weeks? months? (eg. 4 months), how often did you have a lesson aswell?

There is a thread on PPrune about this. In broad terms it can be anything from a few hard-working weeks upwards.

W

[BackPacker]

How do you navigate?
For example, how do you find your way back to the Airport, or if I am flying
somewhere, how do I get there?

As Worrab said, you'll learn this in your course. But there are a few base methods:

- "IFR: I Follow Rivers (or Roads, or Railways)". Or in general: use landmarks on the ground to determine where you are.
- Deduced reckoning ("Dead reckoning"): Look at the map, determine the true track and distance for a leg, correct for wind, magnetic variation and deviation and apply the airspeed of the airplane, then fly the resulting magnetic heading and use your stopwatch to determine when you're done.
- Radio navigation, using ADF, VOR, DME, ILS or a combination thereof.
- GPS
- Vectors from Air Traffic Control

A typical flight will usually combine several of the methods depending on the length of the flight, your familiarity with the area, the equipment of the plane, the availability of landmarks & radio beacons, and your own preferences.

Some of my flights are purely visual since they're in an area I know well. I don't use radio navigation or GPS, and don't even open a map during the flight. Other flights rely heavily on radio navigation and/or GPS.

[Saab Dastard]

I strongly suggest that you browse back over the last several months of this forum and read any threads that are relevant to your questions.

You can also use the Search functions on the Forum to find relevant threads.

It's not considered good manners to demand answers to questions before first searching to see if the information has been covered elsewhere.

SD

[JShutts]

Thanks to everyones answers!

And Saab, I was not 'demanding' answers, and yes I have searched, the questions I asked were questions only answerable when asked, such as what plane have you got.

[Arenigltd]

1. Apart from landing, navigation is the most fun part of flying for me. I often still use the map, whizzy wheel and stopwatch method of navigating. When I'm feeling lazy, I use the GPS. But always study the chart thoroughly beforehand.

2. I own a 1/11th share in a Cessna 150. This costs me £50 a month whether I fly or not, and £55 an hour, including all fuel, to fly it. So pretty cheap flying in a lovely little aeroplane.

3. 70 hrs to PPL for me and this took around 18 months.

Good luck with it. It will change your life.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

The other answer to 1, specifically useful for finding your way back to your home airfield, which is dead easy but nobody ever does it (because it essentially means admitting that you are lost), is VHF direction finding.

The guy in the tower has a widget that tells him the bearing of your radio transmission. If you ask nicely he will tell you the reciprocal of that, which is the direction to steer back to the airfield.

As a refinement of this the emergency service on 121.5MHz can triangulate your position using several VHF direction finders and can thus tell you what course to steer to get anywhere.

So ...

... given all these options, nobody ever gets lost, do they :)

[Crash one]

The guy in the tower has a widget that tells him the bearing of your radio transmission. If you ask nicely he will tell you the reciprocal of that, which is the direction to steer back to the airfield.


I wish!!..............

[worrab]

I own a 1/11th share in a Cessna 150. This costs me £50 a month whether I fly or not, and £55 an hour, including all fuel, to fly it. So pretty cheap flying in a lovely little aeroplane.

IIRC you can use neither a shared nor permit aircraft for Ab Initio flight training.

[Pull what]

Mr Shutts ( I presume)

I will confine myself to just answering your first question.

1. How do you navigate?
[I]For example, how do you find your way back to the Airport, or if I am flying
somewhere, how do I get there?


You navigate an aircraft in the same way that you would find your way across a remote area while walking-you use a magnetic compass and a map.

The aircraft is turned onto a course which is known as a HEADING. You steer your chosen heading checking with the map that the line you are hoping to follow over the ground(known as TRACK) is similar to the one you want. If it is not you make appropriate HEADING corrections. The effect of the wind adds some complications which may need to be allowed for in your choice of heading and the easiest way to think of the wind and its effect is to liken it to a fast flowing river. If you set off without allowing for the current you will be taken downstream. Its exactly the same in the air, you have to make an allowance for the sideways effect of the wind which is called DRIFT.

One of the earliest things to get to grips with is the 360 compass rose, you need to able to form a mental picture of this rose to be able to orientate yourself.

If you left your base airfield on heading of 360 (North) in no wind conditions and flew for 10 mins and then turned around exactly over the same point and then flew the RECIPROCAL heading of 180 (south) this would bring you back to your base airfield in another 10 mins.

This is a simple explanation and all you need at this stage. Flying is simple-its made complicated by the inexperienced!

I hope you enjoy your training and good luck.