A question regarding VOR tracking
 

Hi guys!

I've got a question about VOR tracking (the title was a huge giveaway!).

When deciding on a heading to twist in, do you just twist until the needle centres and follow that heading, or do you put in your planned heading and see if that works, making adjustments as you go?

Hope this makes sense!

Ben

Ben, it depends upon what you're hoping to accomplish. If you would like to follow an "airway" which is defined by a VOR radial, you'll dial in that radial, and fly the plane so as to follow it with the needle centered. You'll have to correct for the crosswind - without resetting the needle.

If you would like to "go direct", dial the VOR indicator until the needle centers, and again, fly so as to maintain it centered. Like going direct with other forms of nav, you are now "off airways" and responsible for your route (in terms of airspace and minimum altitudes).

You would like to avoid resetting the VOR once underway. It can be tempting, finding yourself off course, to simply reset it. Instead, fly the plane back to the VOR radial you selected the first time (assuming you still want to fly to that place). Otherwise, you'll find that you flew a greater distance spiral route toward the VOR

HEADING!

The title should have given you a clue

Obviously not!

You dial in a Radial which defines a TRACK. You fly a Heading to maintain that TRACK.

I have a bit of a mental block with radials, not with flying them but getting the right nomenclature in my bonce. I'm fine flying outbound from a radial, it's obvious that the radial is more or less the heading you are flying allowing for drift, so it's no problem calling 'outbound on 240 radial'. I always have to think about the inbound because 240 radial inbound always makes me think it's 060 radial. I have to carefully engage brain before opening gob.

This article explains it pretty well
http://stoenworks.com/Tutorials/Understanding%20Vors.html

Or get yourself a copy of RANT , after a few hours of tracking and intercepts on the PC with that software you'll be an expert !

Yes, select the TRACK you want to fly - if you just want to go to that beacon then get the bar in the centre with TO displayed, adjust the HEADING for wind and fly that, if the needle goes out to one side then adjust HEADING to bring it back in, readjusting it once it is back in the middle - remember that as you get close to the beacon the bar gets very sensitive, so if it starts to move very quickly (or if you know you are close via other means such as DME) then set a sensible heading until you get the overhead.

There is a good training app for the tablet crowd: it is called Nav Trainer by Pilots Cafe. It works for VOR/NDB, ILS and DME. I don't remember the price but it was not more than a couple of liters of AVGAS.
It comes in a Basic Nav Trainer version too, free of charge. Works on iOS and Android.