Finding the Airfield
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Alternatively enter the strip as the end point but as you approach the strip orientate yourself so that you can actually see it.
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Circling can be quite confusing unless its a sunny day - it's easy to lose track of where north (or south etc.) are. Before you start circling identify a landmark and note each time it passes through your field of vision. Remember that while you are circling your compass will not give a true heading.
To arrive safely you should be following a hand-rail of landmarks, and aiming off can be a very useful technique. Identify them beforehand and tick off against your intended track. Work out when each one should appear, work from the ground to the chart.
Agree absolutely about using Google Earth before hand. I also fine streetmap.co.uk is useful as well - you can get the 1:25k view which includes field boundaries.
In my view the more navigation you do including car, foot & marine all improve your skills and ability to not get lost.
And if you become unsure of your position don't press on until you have become sure again.
To arrive safely you should be following a hand-rail of landmarks, and aiming off can be a very useful technique. Identify them beforehand and tick off against your intended track. Work out when each one should appear, work from the ground to the chart.
Agree absolutely about using Google Earth before hand. I also fine streetmap.co.uk is useful as well - you can get the 1:25k view which includes field boundaries.
In my view the more navigation you do including car, foot & marine all improve your skills and ability to not get lost.
And if you become unsure of your position don't press on until you have become sure again.
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Good points everyone.
GPS are all good fun, it's just when they switch off by themselves or freeze when you need the basics at the front of your mind!
I use AirNav Pro and it is brilliant - but I like to try and keep my hand in with the original PPL syllabus that allowed you a pass on your skills test.
If it ain't broke don't fix it and all.
GPS are all good fun, it's just when they switch off by themselves or freeze when you need the basics at the front of your mind!
I use AirNav Pro and it is brilliant - but I like to try and keep my hand in with the original PPL syllabus that allowed you a pass on your skills test.
If it ain't broke don't fix it and all.
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A point about using GPS nav software such as Skydemon. If you are routing to a new strip that looks like it's hard to find, don't put your end point on the strip. This has been mentioned in a round about way above. Put the end point three miles to the right of the strip as you look at it track up (airspace and other considerations taken into account of course) then you aren't trying to see through the nose for your strip, it will drift down the pilot's side.
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Unfortunately circling doesn't always provide anything valuable. Extensive green fields, minor roads and villages aren't much help. If you're near controlled airspace, call up. There are a number of places in the UK where the uncertainty of dual VOR bearings may put you at risk of unintended entry into a controlled zone.
I'm very much with Sir Francis on this.
The majority of places I want to go to have a road / railway / river / canal / something to it from somewhere else.
So - rather than fly directly to my destination, particularly if it's difficult to see, I'll fly to intercept the line feature one side of it, and turn towards it. That way, finding the destination is far far easier.
(And I use the GPS as well!)
Ann Welch once explained to me how she did this during WW2 - when she was delivering aircraft with little or no nav equipment to camouflaged airfields. She'd look for relatively close four point features (towns, hills, railway stations...) that could have two lines drawn between then with the centre of the cross on the airfield. She'd then fly to the nearest of the features, then directly towards the opposite feature whilst monitoring the one on either side of her.
When the sideways features were in the right places in her field of view, she knew she was over her destination.
As she was one of the few pilots on her squadron to make it to the end of the war, then went on to become a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, I think she knew what she was talking about. Certainly the technique has also worked for me when I've tried it.
G
The majority of places I want to go to have a road / railway / river / canal / something to it from somewhere else.
So - rather than fly directly to my destination, particularly if it's difficult to see, I'll fly to intercept the line feature one side of it, and turn towards it. That way, finding the destination is far far easier.
(And I use the GPS as well!)
Ann Welch once explained to me how she did this during WW2 - when she was delivering aircraft with little or no nav equipment to camouflaged airfields. She'd look for relatively close four point features (towns, hills, railway stations...) that could have two lines drawn between then with the centre of the cross on the airfield. She'd then fly to the nearest of the features, then directly towards the opposite feature whilst monitoring the one on either side of her.
When the sideways features were in the right places in her field of view, she knew she was over her destination.
As she was one of the few pilots on her squadron to make it to the end of the war, then went on to become a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, I think she knew what she was talking about. Certainly the technique has also worked for me when I've tried it.
G
Get onto 121.5 (in the UK) and transmit "training fix, training fix, training fix, callsign, request training fix". Once D&D have given you a position they'll ask if you require anything further; you reply, "Request a steer for Little Flapping On The Wold (or wherever else it is you can't find)". Currency for the D&D staff and you're out of trouble.
Avoid imitations
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I bet Sir Francis Chichester still couldn't have found Fenland
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Better IMHO than pressing on and becoming more and more unsure in a less and less temporary way of one's position... Ann Welch's method sounds brilliant and typical of everything of hers I've read - simple and sound.
I had a similar method for finding an airfield I had been told was hard to find, except it was blindingly obvious when I got there as it was the only bit of green in a sea of ripe grain & stubble. Had it been May the surrounding fields would have been green and it would have been a lot, lot harder. Since I was flying a glider I would have had to go back to staying up if I'd not found it so easily. Made sure to arrive with plenty of height in hand...
I had a similar method for finding an airfield I had been told was hard to find, except it was blindingly obvious when I got there as it was the only bit of green in a sea of ripe grain & stubble. Had it been May the surrounding fields would have been green and it would have been a lot, lot harder. Since I was flying a glider I would have had to go back to staying up if I'd not found it so easily. Made sure to arrive with plenty of height in hand...
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Talking of ATA pilots etc I once read Alex Henshaw's book about his life as a test pilot. He was known for having an uncanny ability to find his way back to Castle Bromwich, where he used to test fly Spitfires from, in the foulest weather. He used a method that is stupidly simple that I use myself.
Any nearby power station will create a 'bulge' in the overcast if you are flying above it. It's blindingly obvious when you see it. As I have two power stations near where I fly from I use the method to great effect to impress people with my incredible navigation skills. Without telling them about Alex Henshaw of course...
Any nearby power station will create a 'bulge' in the overcast if you are flying above it. It's blindingly obvious when you see it. As I have two power stations near where I fly from I use the method to great effect to impress people with my incredible navigation skills. Without telling them about Alex Henshaw of course...
Last edited by thing; 5th Oct 2015 at 22:26.
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I think you've got lots of really good advice here.
The only thing I haven't read here is perhaps a little archaic (or limited by facility) - but I have found it incredibly useful in marginal weather before I got my IR(r). You can request from quite a few airports / aerodromes QDMs. Some will even give you periodic updates on QDM back to an airfield if you ask them kindly.
I normally try to find obvious features and navigate with those when I am not flying with a GNS430 or SkyDemon.
The only thing I haven't read here is perhaps a little archaic (or limited by facility) - but I have found it incredibly useful in marginal weather before I got my IR(r). You can request from quite a few airports / aerodromes QDMs. Some will even give you periodic updates on QDM back to an airfield if you ask them kindly.
I normally try to find obvious features and navigate with those when I am not flying with a GNS430 or SkyDemon.
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In my early days before GPS , when approaching a new strip/airfield I used to (in fact still do) hold my pen up to the DI in the orientation of the runway:
Then look out of the window for a runway orientated in the same direction.
Works every time.....
Cusco
Then look out of the window for a runway orientated in the same direction.
Works every time.....
Cusco
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You can request from quite a few airports / aerodromes QDMs.
I then didn't actually fly the QDM, as I wasn't actually intending to return to the airfield just yet. They called me up a few minutes later, unasked, with a revised QDM - I suspect they saw on the radar that I wasn't following the QDM they'd given me and thought I was actually lost.
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They called me up a few minutes later, unasked, with a revised QDM
The advent of radar is fantastic - flying vectors is so easy too - can't go wrong.
Oh something else that may have been missed - when calling 121.5 for a position fix - could be useful to make sure to listen out, to make sure there isn't an emergency already being broadcasted. This happened during my training, we were going to request a training fix and luckily we waited a couple of minutes before broadcasting as there was a real emergency a little further north!
I'm very much with Sir Francis on this.
The majority of places I want to go to have a road / railway / river / canal / something to it from somewhere else.
So - rather than fly directly to my destination, particularly if it's difficult to see, I'll fly to intercept the line feature one side of it, and turn towards it. That way, finding the destination is far far easier.
The majority of places I want to go to have a road / railway / river / canal / something to it from somewhere else.
So - rather than fly directly to my destination, particularly if it's difficult to see, I'll fly to intercept the line feature one side of it, and turn towards it. That way, finding the destination is far far easier.
Licence to learn
Good practice to keep up the basic nav skills.
Re GPS, most commercial operations use GPS as their main nav aid, usually at least a dual setup. I have a G430 and I Pad with Skydemon in our plane. Never had them "switch off" or freeze. Best not put the IPad in direct sunlight on a hot day though.
Re GPS, most commercial operations use GPS as their main nav aid, usually at least a dual setup. I have a G430 and I Pad with Skydemon in our plane. Never had them "switch off" or freeze. Best not put the IPad in direct sunlight on a hot day though.
I've had GPS dropouts, admittedly always on portable rather than built in systems. The most severe I can recall lasted about 70nm from approximately Chester to approximately Northampton.
It does concentrate the mind somewhat. Nothing at-all wrong in my world view in using GPS as your primary navigational source. But using it as your sole navigational source will, sooner or later, land you in the doo-doo. Fortunately, I don't.
G
It does concentrate the mind somewhat. Nothing at-all wrong in my world view in using GPS as your primary navigational source. But using it as your sole navigational source will, sooner or later, land you in the doo-doo. Fortunately, I don't.
G