Navigation Tips
Navigation Tips
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 1,470
Likes: 844
From: Here 'n' there!
I know it sounds odd but spend time on the ground planning and believe your plan - it's worth it's weight in gold. You'll be amazed at how accurate you'll be as a rule.
Then, don't try and spot every little ground feature - that's a big mistake. Identify (when planning) a few obvious features such as lakes, forests, railway lines, towns, major roads at key points along the route.
Then concentrate on flying your Plan accurately (headings and time esp) and only look for your selected key features when your Plan tells you to expect to see them. The rest of the time fly accurately and remember to LOOKOUT for other aircraft etc.
The more time you see it working the more relaxed you get with it.
That's my view - others will chip in no doubt! But a good Plan is the foundation of an enjoyable, stress-free flight! Enjoy!
Fleet Manager
Joined: Aug 2006
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 7,081
Likes: 2,938
From: Ontario, Canada
My first element was time - where should I be? And what features do I expect to see around me, and in what direction. If my time and rate and direction of travel were correct, what I see around me should be confirmation of what I expect to see. Then it's shapes and directions. Roads can be distinguished large from small, and often have an unusual curve or intersection which can distinguish a location. Railways are great too, particularly when they cross another feature, and better yet, when they cross at an angle which is clear to the eye. Then it's the shape and layout of towns and villages. Coast lines are good, but with one caution: If you're flying toward the coast, to arrive more of less square to a rather straight coastline, it can be bad when you arrive to the water, and don't know it you are left or right of your intended path. You have to turn along the coast (safe GA operations), and if you arrive to the coast lost, 50/50 you turn the wrong way - have a contingency plan for that!
Rivers are okay if you know them, and great of they have features like bridge crossings, or oxbow lakes which are very clear - but caution: If you don't know the river/have never seen it before, how big does it appear relative to what you expect? Tale of my past: I was flying a borrowed C182 from Texas, headed west to Arizona VFR in pre GPS days - so following a map. I landed for gas west of El Paso (very busy airspace) for fuel. There, I picked up a local, handy (photocopy of a photocopy) page of the VFR route I was going to fly, with the checkpoints to tell ATC as you progressed. The only thing I did right - not being local - was to take off, circle back up over the airport, and get positive radar contact with El Paso center, before taking up my intended route. They knew who I was, the route I intended, and where I was going. That was good - everything I did after that was not so much. The page said to fly toward the Rio Grande (translates to River Big), call there and follow it west. At that area, it was all urban. So, I'm following my heading, perfect weather, looking for a big river (I had never seen before in that part of the world). I watched, and watched, and flew and flew and did not see a big river. Eventually (always a bad word when flying) ATC calls me and asks if I know where I am. About that time I was already figuring my time (see above) was too long for this leg, so I quickly (and wisely) admitted I was lost. ATC comes back halfway laughing, and said I was about 5 miles into Mexico, and suggested a turn the heading 330 to get back on track. I eagerly accepted this advice. He seemed much more entertained by my mistake, rather than upset. On the other hand, The Mexican police were less amused, I noticed an all black 182 below me circling up toward me to intercept. So I firewalled my 182 (which was an older one, which I knew are a little faster than the newer one following me) and simply outran him back to the US boarder. He broke off, and life continued. As for why did I overfly the Rio Grande and not see a "river big"? It's a ditch going through El Paso! Yes, further east in Texas, it's a river (I'd seen it there), but at El Paso, it's a ditch, with really no visible water in it. Nothing on the paper I had told me that I was looking for a feature with really no water, as it's name suggests!
So, if you can, the night before, "fly" your route on Google Earth, and get an idea of some of the features you should overfly, and other features which are indications to you that you're off course!
And, always keep track of your time - where should you be?
Rivers are okay if you know them, and great of they have features like bridge crossings, or oxbow lakes which are very clear - but caution: If you don't know the river/have never seen it before, how big does it appear relative to what you expect? Tale of my past: I was flying a borrowed C182 from Texas, headed west to Arizona VFR in pre GPS days - so following a map. I landed for gas west of El Paso (very busy airspace) for fuel. There, I picked up a local, handy (photocopy of a photocopy) page of the VFR route I was going to fly, with the checkpoints to tell ATC as you progressed. The only thing I did right - not being local - was to take off, circle back up over the airport, and get positive radar contact with El Paso center, before taking up my intended route. They knew who I was, the route I intended, and where I was going. That was good - everything I did after that was not so much. The page said to fly toward the Rio Grande (translates to River Big), call there and follow it west. At that area, it was all urban. So, I'm following my heading, perfect weather, looking for a big river (I had never seen before in that part of the world). I watched, and watched, and flew and flew and did not see a big river. Eventually (always a bad word when flying) ATC calls me and asks if I know where I am. About that time I was already figuring my time (see above) was too long for this leg, so I quickly (and wisely) admitted I was lost. ATC comes back halfway laughing, and said I was about 5 miles into Mexico, and suggested a turn the heading 330 to get back on track. I eagerly accepted this advice. He seemed much more entertained by my mistake, rather than upset. On the other hand, The Mexican police were less amused, I noticed an all black 182 below me circling up toward me to intercept. So I firewalled my 182 (which was an older one, which I knew are a little faster than the newer one following me) and simply outran him back to the US boarder. He broke off, and life continued. As for why did I overfly the Rio Grande and not see a "river big"? It's a ditch going through El Paso! Yes, further east in Texas, it's a river (I'd seen it there), but at El Paso, it's a ditch, with really no visible water in it. Nothing on the paper I had told me that I was looking for a feature with really no water, as it's name suggests!
So, if you can, the night before, "fly" your route on Google Earth, and get an idea of some of the features you should overfly, and other features which are indications to you that you're off course!
And, always keep track of your time - where should you be?
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: Farm strip on the Fens in South Lincs
World War two
Not that this will be of any help to the OP but I recall something my old instructor said to me during a nav exercise in the mid-seventies which went something like this:
"You ought to be grateful that we had a world war a few decades ago" and naturally I asked him why, to which he replied "with all the active and disused airfields we have spread across the landscape, marking waypoints on your track couldn't be more simple". He had no problem spotting them due to the fact that he'd been an ATA pilot during the war and most probably visited more than the average RAF pilot had when delivering various types to airfields across the country from the factories.
Fifty years on with many of the disused airfields obliterated through residential/commercial development and agricultural activities there's not so many around that are readily discernible from above but back then they were a godsend.
"You ought to be grateful that we had a world war a few decades ago" and naturally I asked him why, to which he replied "with all the active and disused airfields we have spread across the landscape, marking waypoints on your track couldn't be more simple". He had no problem spotting them due to the fact that he'd been an ATA pilot during the war and most probably visited more than the average RAF pilot had when delivering various types to airfields across the country from the factories.
Fifty years on with many of the disused airfields obliterated through residential/commercial development and agricultural activities there's not so many around that are readily discernible from above but back then they were a godsend.
Joined: Jul 2016
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 226
Likes: 25
From: Broughton, UK
GPS
The most obvious answer, which has been overlooked so far, is to use a GPS. The simpler ones will just show you your track, and the terrain over which you are flying. so these need to be backed up by your chart, to avoid bumping into controlled airspace etc. Higher end and more costly GPSs, will show a moving aeronautical map, and other aids to navigation. They do need updating every few months, to add the latest alterations.
Some apps are available for lap-top / tablets, that can show weather along the route, and even other aircraft. They can be pre-programed with your set route, if you want to fly the magenta line.
I would not attempt to navigate around London area without an Aero Sat Nav, the pinch points are so narrow. Over Wales and Scotland, the old paper charts are sufficient, with nothing much to bump into, up to 8,000 feet, and you can spend more of your time looking at the scenery, and spotting other planes.
Some apps are available for lap-top / tablets, that can show weather along the route, and even other aircraft. They can be pre-programed with your set route, if you want to fly the magenta line.
I would not attempt to navigate around London area without an Aero Sat Nav, the pinch points are so narrow. Over Wales and Scotland, the old paper charts are sufficient, with nothing much to bump into, up to 8,000 feet, and you can spend more of your time looking at the scenery, and spotting other planes.
Last edited by scifi; 18th May 2025 at 14:22.
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,759
Likes: 385
Vor VFR daytime flight pick easy to find landmarks not too far away. Lakes, hilltops, highway crossing, railway stations, coastlines. Say every 15 NM. You can even adjust the route to pass easy to recognise places. This might be more than needed and more planning work with the waypoints and flight plan but you might learn it faster. As a second layer VORs are quite helpful. You can fly a little higher for better reception range if possible. And don't go if the weather is marginal or you could run out of daylight. Especially on the way back. Take enough fuel or plan fuel stops to not come under any pressure. You can learn this basic navigation without any fancy glass cockpit or moving map GPS.
