Radio Aids Navigation Tutor 2000 ?
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Radio Aids Navigation Tutor 2000 ?
Anyone out there with experience of the Radio Aids Navigation Tutor (RANT) 2000 PC program?
It's meant to take you from zero instrument flying experience (that'll be me - too many hours enjoying VFR conditions every weekend in sunny Cape Town) to actually having instrument navigation skills.
Came across it for the first time in a review in Flyer this month and it looks excellent. There is a demo of it at www.oddsoft.co.uk which took about 6 attempts to download the 2Mb file but it was worth it.
The makers claim loads of FTO's use it so there must be loads of ex and current users
out there, so any comments?
Should I spend the £90? Hmm, v.tempting.
It's meant to take you from zero instrument flying experience (that'll be me - too many hours enjoying VFR conditions every weekend in sunny Cape Town) to actually having instrument navigation skills.
Came across it for the first time in a review in Flyer this month and it looks excellent. There is a demo of it at www.oddsoft.co.uk which took about 6 attempts to download the 2Mb file but it was worth it.
The makers claim loads of FTO's use it so there must be loads of ex and current users
out there, so any comments?
Should I spend the £90? Hmm, v.tempting.
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It's very good, but I would use it in conjunction with an actual course and use it for practice, rather than using it for all the teaching. However if you are just looking for an awareness of how to fly on instruments it would be very good for you.
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£90??
Yes it is an ok piece of software, we have got it at the school, but it's got nothing really that you couldn't pick up from a half day's reading and a chat with an IMC rated pilot over a cup of tea.
Bear in mind that you could get the latest edition of FS2000, with a couple of IMC training add ons and still come home with change for £90. And Jeppesen Flitepro wallops both those programs.
Yes it is an ok piece of software, we have got it at the school, but it's got nothing really that you couldn't pick up from a half day's reading and a chat with an IMC rated pilot over a cup of tea.
Bear in mind that you could get the latest edition of FS2000, with a couple of IMC training add ons and still come home with change for £90. And Jeppesen Flitepro wallops both those programs.
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I bought the RANT2000 software a while ago. Its OK for a fresher to all this, but it had run out of new tricks for me after 5 mins!
For sale, RANT2000, £80 ono. email me! ill even pay P&P
For sale, RANT2000, £80 ono. email me! ill even pay P&P
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it is the dog's gonads in terms of teaching basic IFR nav skills but it's a bit steep at £90. Why not try another way.... use Flight sim 2000 in ALT HOLD mode and HDG mode on the A/P that will simulate RANT quite well. The pro version of FS2000 also has IFR panels and stuff to play with. FS2002 may also proove a good investment.
Oh and by the way no I'm not just a flight sim freak I have both programs (RANT and FS2000) and also a CPL/IR, it definitely helped me using both but I hate to see people ripped off and it seems £90 is a bit on the expensive side for what you get!!!!
Also I heard a rumour that there may soon be a website that will teach IFR nav interactively, an instructor of mine is involved with it but I don't know how close to happening it is!!
Hope this helps!!
Oh and by the way no I'm not just a flight sim freak I have both programs (RANT and FS2000) and also a CPL/IR, it definitely helped me using both but I hate to see people ripped off and it seems £90 is a bit on the expensive side for what you get!!!!
Also I heard a rumour that there may soon be a website that will teach IFR nav interactively, an instructor of mine is involved with it but I don't know how close to happening it is!!
Hope this helps!!
Its a very good program, its better than the Flightsim option, but at £90 its a bit steep.
The old version Rant 6.0 is quite good and there are, ahem, a few copies floating around...
2000 is a good investment as long as you sell it on when you have finished with it for say £45. Which shouldn't be too hard.
Good luck,
WWW
The old version Rant 6.0 is quite good and there are, ahem, a few copies floating around...
2000 is a good investment as long as you sell it on when you have finished with it for say £45. Which shouldn't be too hard.
Good luck,
WWW
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I happen to think RANT2000 is a useful training and practice aid and in particular I haven't seen similar (good) tutorials in other products. However, I have to agree with the other posters that I think it is very overpriced at £89.90.
As far as I remember, the previous version was RANT 3.1 and that came with a rather good instruction booklet. I obtained RANT 2000 via an upgrade offer so the total cost was less than usual.
As I see it the big problem with RANT2000 (besides the price) is that it doesn't come with any instruction booklet. It just has one of the optimistically called on-screen help features which is no use at all if you are just trying to get the thing set up. I don't think I would have had much success with RANT2000 unless I had already got the RANT3.1 instruction booklet. I have met another pilot who hasn't been able to use RANT 2000 properly because of the lack of an instruction booklet. You can't even print out an instruction booklet.
If you can live with these shortcomings (and the price) then its a good training and practice aid. It has the very useful feature that you can edit the NAVAIDS to keep it up to date.
Jepp Flitepro suffers from poor NAVDATA and there is no facility to edit the database. After many unanswered faxes 18 months ago, Jepp did tell me that the datebase was going to be corrected and brought up to date in the Summer of 2000, and told me to watch their website for an announcement. After 18 months I am still waiting and have concluded that the updates / corrections just aren't going to happen.
So I have a question..... How does FS2000 compare to flitepro in terms of instrument readibility? The earlier version of FS I had (FS98) wasn't sufficiently clear to be able to practice ndb holds because you couldn't read the adf to better than 5 degrees. Is FS2000 better? and does it have all the UK Navaids in the correct place?
As far as I remember, the previous version was RANT 3.1 and that came with a rather good instruction booklet. I obtained RANT 2000 via an upgrade offer so the total cost was less than usual.
As I see it the big problem with RANT2000 (besides the price) is that it doesn't come with any instruction booklet. It just has one of the optimistically called on-screen help features which is no use at all if you are just trying to get the thing set up. I don't think I would have had much success with RANT2000 unless I had already got the RANT3.1 instruction booklet. I have met another pilot who hasn't been able to use RANT 2000 properly because of the lack of an instruction booklet. You can't even print out an instruction booklet.
If you can live with these shortcomings (and the price) then its a good training and practice aid. It has the very useful feature that you can edit the NAVAIDS to keep it up to date.
Jepp Flitepro suffers from poor NAVDATA and there is no facility to edit the database. After many unanswered faxes 18 months ago, Jepp did tell me that the datebase was going to be corrected and brought up to date in the Summer of 2000, and told me to watch their website for an announcement. After 18 months I am still waiting and have concluded that the updates / corrections just aren't going to happen.
So I have a question..... How does FS2000 compare to flitepro in terms of instrument readibility? The earlier version of FS I had (FS98) wasn't sufficiently clear to be able to practice ndb holds because you couldn't read the adf to better than 5 degrees. Is FS2000 better? and does it have all the UK Navaids in the correct place?
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RANT 3.1 and RANT2000 both have the option to show ADF dip, but as has been said, they are training and practice programmes rather than full simulators. Because RANT hasn't got the option to vary the angle of bank (you just go staight into or out of a rate 1 turn) the dip error "snaps away" rather sharply at the end of the turn. In a real aircraft, this is much more sluggish. However, it does help you learn which way the needle is going to move when you roll wings level (hopefully within 5 degress of the i/b track). You can spend £110 per hour in a FRASCA 142 Simulator and still not see any ADF dip, but I still feel RANT 2000 is seriously overpriced because of the lack of any instruction booklet - see my post above.
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1013,
Yes I agree with you re the Frasca. Just been there myself.
I use X-plane to home study, and it works fine for me, and is a lot cheaper than RANT. It does require to be hand flown, but if you want it flown for you, just put the AP on and fly the bug. It does take a little time to get setup properly, but has the advantage that it can act as a full sim too. But, no dip. Mind you, I only paid £25.00 for my copy, but there is a new release out now that's a bit more expensive. I might upgrade once the IR's out of the way as I need a stable box to work on, and I don't want to spend hours every evening learning something new.
PS
Yes I agree with you re the Frasca. Just been there myself.
I use X-plane to home study, and it works fine for me, and is a lot cheaper than RANT. It does require to be hand flown, but if you want it flown for you, just put the AP on and fly the bug. It does take a little time to get setup properly, but has the advantage that it can act as a full sim too. But, no dip. Mind you, I only paid £25.00 for my copy, but there is a new release out now that's a bit more expensive. I might upgrade once the IR's out of the way as I need a stable box to work on, and I don't want to spend hours every evening learning something new.
PS
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Thanks for the responses everyone. Might just go for it, but I'll check out the Jeppesen Flitepro one first.
£90 doesn't seem too bad compared to learning these techniques in a Frasca or a real aircraft.
£90 doesn't seem too bad compared to learning these techniques in a Frasca or a real aircraft.
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I've used RANT for a while now and think it's good value - especially as they throw in a flight planner. As well as the tutorials and exercises in RANT itself I've used the flight planner 'in anger' quite a lot and it produces both a usable PLOG and a decent flight plan form without all the usual whizz wheel and head scratching stuff.
