rogerg
21st May 2011, 09:53
Common sense!
I know its a bit long, but I found this in the student notes of a well known FTO. Is common sense breaking out?
This Student Training Standardisation Supplement analyses and explains the method by which pilots, flying alone, may navigate their aircraft visually - without recourse to radio navigation aids or GPS - using dead reckoning techniques, and where position fixes are obtained solely by reference to visual features on the ground. As a student airline pilot, you may ask yourself why training in visual navigation techniques is necessary. After all, for many decades now, radio navigation aids and ground-based radar services have been virtually the sole navigation systems used by instrument qualified pilots. Furthermore, now that satellite navigation systems are becoming readily available and affordable, even general aviation pilots are using visual navigation techniques less and less frequently. Student airline pilots, especially, then, may feel that the art of visual navigation is irrelevant to them.should be proficient in visual dead reckoning navigation techniques. This is so, not only because the most fundamental of the skills required to navigate
Nevertheless, it is essential that all pilots, whether amateur or professional, by dead reckoning are also those necessary to master the techniques of radio navigation (knowing how to allow for wind, for instance), but also because, even when flying the most modem of aircraft, on-board or ground-based navigation systems may become unserviceable. This latter situation would, of course, require a pilot to revert to more basic navigation skills in order to bring the flight to a safe conclusion.
It is also the case that many pilots find visual navigation skills difficult to apply successfully and, thus, come to rely too readily on easy-to-interpret navigation aids. Such an approach to navigation is, however, both unwise and unprofessional.
For the student professional pilot, lack of professionalism in any aspect of flying is unacceptable, and, for this reason alone, because visual navigation forms part of the airline pilot training syllabus, students must resolve to learn to use visual navigation techniques competently and professionally. Additionally, though, for a pilot to succeed in navigating his aircraft by visual dead reckoning methods alone is a highly satisfying experience. The skills involved, including the use of mental dead reckoning techniques, are straightforward to master provided the navigation task is approached logically.
This Supplement aims at demystifying the art of visual dead reckoning navigation in order that the visual navigation stage of your pilot training may be pleasurable and professionally satisfying, and form a sound basis for your subsequent training in radio navigation.
The main body of this Supplement covers the basic application of visual navigation skills to route flying. Annex A to the Supplement explains the mental dead reckoning techniques which you must master in order to re-assess heading and groundspeed, in the air, when the actual wind turns out to be different from the forecast wind. Annex B deals with the techniques you should apply when you identify a track error, in order to regain and maintain track or to fly directly to your destination. Finally, Annex C contains a summary of the main visual navigation techniques covered in this Supplement.
I know its a bit long, but I found this in the student notes of a well known FTO. Is common sense breaking out?
This Student Training Standardisation Supplement analyses and explains the method by which pilots, flying alone, may navigate their aircraft visually - without recourse to radio navigation aids or GPS - using dead reckoning techniques, and where position fixes are obtained solely by reference to visual features on the ground. As a student airline pilot, you may ask yourself why training in visual navigation techniques is necessary. After all, for many decades now, radio navigation aids and ground-based radar services have been virtually the sole navigation systems used by instrument qualified pilots. Furthermore, now that satellite navigation systems are becoming readily available and affordable, even general aviation pilots are using visual navigation techniques less and less frequently. Student airline pilots, especially, then, may feel that the art of visual navigation is irrelevant to them.should be proficient in visual dead reckoning navigation techniques. This is so, not only because the most fundamental of the skills required to navigate
Nevertheless, it is essential that all pilots, whether amateur or professional, by dead reckoning are also those necessary to master the techniques of radio navigation (knowing how to allow for wind, for instance), but also because, even when flying the most modem of aircraft, on-board or ground-based navigation systems may become unserviceable. This latter situation would, of course, require a pilot to revert to more basic navigation skills in order to bring the flight to a safe conclusion.
It is also the case that many pilots find visual navigation skills difficult to apply successfully and, thus, come to rely too readily on easy-to-interpret navigation aids. Such an approach to navigation is, however, both unwise and unprofessional.
For the student professional pilot, lack of professionalism in any aspect of flying is unacceptable, and, for this reason alone, because visual navigation forms part of the airline pilot training syllabus, students must resolve to learn to use visual navigation techniques competently and professionally. Additionally, though, for a pilot to succeed in navigating his aircraft by visual dead reckoning methods alone is a highly satisfying experience. The skills involved, including the use of mental dead reckoning techniques, are straightforward to master provided the navigation task is approached logically.
This Supplement aims at demystifying the art of visual dead reckoning navigation in order that the visual navigation stage of your pilot training may be pleasurable and professionally satisfying, and form a sound basis for your subsequent training in radio navigation.
The main body of this Supplement covers the basic application of visual navigation skills to route flying. Annex A to the Supplement explains the mental dead reckoning techniques which you must master in order to re-assess heading and groundspeed, in the air, when the actual wind turns out to be different from the forecast wind. Annex B deals with the techniques you should apply when you identify a track error, in order to regain and maintain track or to fly directly to your destination. Finally, Annex C contains a summary of the main visual navigation techniques covered in this Supplement.