Navigation Skills for PPL
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Navigation Skills for PPL
I am getting towards the end of my training in an R44 for my PPL and am struggling with the Nav exercises. I plan the route well on the map and have an good idea of what to expect in the air and think its going to be happy days. I did my second nav exercise the other day, i must have miscalculated w/v as after quite a short while i was quite far off track, then when i started trying to identify roads/railways on the ground it all seemed to merge into one and then i just had a bit of a brain melt!!
Does anyone have any handy hints they use/used to make the Nav exercise easier (not using GPS)
I have been using my VFR log clipped to the chart, which was getting in the way, i have bought a kneeboard which is going to help i hope? Any suggestions would be great thanks.
Does anyone have any handy hints they use/used to make the Nav exercise easier (not using GPS)
I have been using my VFR log clipped to the chart, which was getting in the way, i have bought a kneeboard which is going to help i hope? Any suggestions would be great thanks.
Off ground, do gross error check! split track on map into small segments I put a line every 5 min & look for ground feature this will give you a handle on error try & correct, before it gets to land & read sign posts 
when I did my nav X country Every feature was a relief to see.
There are people who still think I stopped & picked up a navigator, (I would point out it is a scurrilous rumour)
when I did my nav X country Every feature was a relief to see.There are people who still think I stopped & picked up a navigator, (I would point out it is a scurrilous rumour)
Hi Boratron
1. Always work from map to ground (unless you are really lost!) know what you expect to see from the map and then look for it on the ground
2. Use big features a few minutes apart, don't try and identify every little village and road junction enroute (until you are nearly at destination where you will want a final easily identifiable big feature and then a series of smaller ones to lead you to your destination)
3. Make sure the feature is unique e.g. two towns may have very similar features but only one has a railway with a fork leaving the North West corner
4. If you are looking out the side windows to identify features you are getting behind the aircraft
5. If your destination is on a line feature crossing your track then make a positive error left or right, that way when you get to the line feature and your destination is not under your feet you have a good idea which way to turn
6. Roads, railways and rivers often run together. The order they lie in may give accurate information where you are crossing them
I think that's all I know
Cheers
TeeS
1. Always work from map to ground (unless you are really lost!) know what you expect to see from the map and then look for it on the ground
2. Use big features a few minutes apart, don't try and identify every little village and road junction enroute (until you are nearly at destination where you will want a final easily identifiable big feature and then a series of smaller ones to lead you to your destination)
3. Make sure the feature is unique e.g. two towns may have very similar features but only one has a railway with a fork leaving the North West corner
4. If you are looking out the side windows to identify features you are getting behind the aircraft
5. If your destination is on a line feature crossing your track then make a positive error left or right, that way when you get to the line feature and your destination is not under your feet you have a good idea which way to turn
6. Roads, railways and rivers often run together. The order they lie in may give accurate information where you are crossing them
I think that's all I know
Cheers
TeeS
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....from map to ground????????
I would say the other way around. That's at least what I use.
My experience is that you're less likely to falsely identify a feature on the ground when reading from ground to map.
But that's just my own personal experience.
I would say the other way around. That's at least what I use.
My experience is that you're less likely to falsely identify a feature on the ground when reading from ground to map.
But that's just my own personal experience.
Hi Ludolf
If you've gone to the effort of drawing a line on the map, identifying easily recognisable features enroute, calculating the rough time you expect to pass them and whether they will be left, right or on the nose, why would you start looking out at features on the ground and trying to fit them to the map. The aim is for navigation to take up as little brain power as possible so that you can concentrate on flying accurately and making sure you don't hit anything.
When you become lost, things are different; try to calculate what area you are in, based on time from last positive fix and hopefully identify a line feature from the map that you can turn to. If that fails, then start trying to identify features on the ground by referring to the map.
Cheers
TeeS
If you've gone to the effort of drawing a line on the map, identifying easily recognisable features enroute, calculating the rough time you expect to pass them and whether they will be left, right or on the nose, why would you start looking out at features on the ground and trying to fit them to the map. The aim is for navigation to take up as little brain power as possible so that you can concentrate on flying accurately and making sure you don't hit anything.
When you become lost, things are different; try to calculate what area you are in, based on time from last positive fix and hopefully identify a line feature from the map that you can turn to. If that fails, then start trying to identify features on the ground by referring to the map.
Cheers
TeeS
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Don't despair; nav is hard when you first start!
Here's a top tip that acts like a 'gross error check': when you get to a turning point, turn onto your calculated HEADING but have a look along your TRACK, ie along the line that you've drawn on your map. That's obviously where you need the aircraft to be going. As you look along your TRACK, pick out an obvious feature away in the distance that you can use as a marker - this could be a distinctive hill, a chimney, a particular wood or something like that. As you fly along your drift-corrected HEADING, you should find that the aircraft is actually TRACKING towards the marker that you have chosen. If it isn't, then your wind correction is inaccurate, but you will then be able to make a reasonable correction to your DRIFT to take account of this.
Think this concept through carefully on the ground, especially with reference to a route marked on a map, until you are happy with it and then it should be easier to apply in the air.
E99
Here's a top tip that acts like a 'gross error check': when you get to a turning point, turn onto your calculated HEADING but have a look along your TRACK, ie along the line that you've drawn on your map. That's obviously where you need the aircraft to be going. As you look along your TRACK, pick out an obvious feature away in the distance that you can use as a marker - this could be a distinctive hill, a chimney, a particular wood or something like that. As you fly along your drift-corrected HEADING, you should find that the aircraft is actually TRACKING towards the marker that you have chosen. If it isn't, then your wind correction is inaccurate, but you will then be able to make a reasonable correction to your DRIFT to take account of this.
Think this concept through carefully on the ground, especially with reference to a route marked on a map, until you are happy with it and then it should be easier to apply in the air.
E99
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Plan accurately and fly accurately. 4 or 5 degrees off heading will soon give a large track error and you will be struggling to locate your position which quickly leads to even less accurate flying.
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1)In my experience often don't fly what they planned, when they are supposed to be on a heading of say 270 they will often consistently fly 250-260 or something like that.
2)Students generally look for features that are too close, keep the big picture in mind, look for bigger towns and bigger features that are further away and pick a marker on the horizon and fly towards that, the heading will then be rock steady and adjust as required.
3)Mark everything you need from the flight log onto the map, headings, times, frequencies etc, then you don't need to look at the log unless you want to.
4)Reduce work load, Leave the lever at a set power, maintain altitude with cyclic only, only when airspeed is consistently 5 knots over/under target should you adjust power.
5) use the elapsed time to recognise how far along the line you should be which should be pretty accurate if you remain at set power and altitude.
6)read from map to ground as mentioned earlier - reduces workload
2)Students generally look for features that are too close, keep the big picture in mind, look for bigger towns and bigger features that are further away and pick a marker on the horizon and fly towards that, the heading will then be rock steady and adjust as required.
3)Mark everything you need from the flight log onto the map, headings, times, frequencies etc, then you don't need to look at the log unless you want to.
4)Reduce work load, Leave the lever at a set power, maintain altitude with cyclic only, only when airspeed is consistently 5 knots over/under target should you adjust power.
5) use the elapsed time to recognise how far along the line you should be which should be pretty accurate if you remain at set power and altitude.
6)read from map to ground as mentioned earlier - reduces workload
The "map to ground" thing is to prevent guessing at which of the 10 little roads you can see is most likely the right one - rather than looking out, seeing a feature and convincing yourself it's the right one, you go:
Clock - how long since the last known point?
Map - at my planned or known groundspeed, how far should I have come on the map and what should I see at that point?
Ground - look out and find the expected features, using big to small. Orientating the map so track is up will help with that too.
Another hot tip in my opinion is to ensure you have an identifiable feature very near the start of each leg so you can positively confirm you're on track to start with even if you've manouevered off track while departing or carrying out the turn at a turn point.
Clock - how long since the last known point?
Map - at my planned or known groundspeed, how far should I have come on the map and what should I see at that point?
Ground - look out and find the expected features, using big to small. Orientating the map so track is up will help with that too.
Another hot tip in my opinion is to ensure you have an identifiable feature very near the start of each leg so you can positively confirm you're on track to start with even if you've manouevered off track while departing or carrying out the turn at a turn point.
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Up to your half way point use double track error - i.e. 5 degrees left of track after 6mins, 10 degree correction to the right for a further 6mins then correct 5 degrees left and continue. The plan is to fly across as much of your planned route as possible. No point in getting to your half way point and making a big correction from there. After half way use track error + closing angle.
A big part of it is chart study on the ground, identify obvious features and at what time during your flight you expect to see these. This helps you with keeping on track and with your timings. For example expected to arrive overhead bridge a third of the way along track - arrived 2mins late, therefore add 6mins to your ETA etc. Remember to add 5 or 6min marks on your map.
If you can minimse the amount of brain time for actually navigating this will free up capacity for flying an accurate altitude, speed and heading!
A big part of it is chart study on the ground, identify obvious features and at what time during your flight you expect to see these. This helps you with keeping on track and with your timings. For example expected to arrive overhead bridge a third of the way along track - arrived 2mins late, therefore add 6mins to your ETA etc. Remember to add 5 or 6min marks on your map.
If you can minimse the amount of brain time for actually navigating this will free up capacity for flying an accurate altitude, speed and heading!
To the OP:
Have you got access to a PC/Mac flight sim?
Once you've planned your route, it can often help to do a 'dry run' of the trip on the sim. It can help you to visualise the landmarks that you are going to see along the way.
Have you got access to a PC/Mac flight sim?
Once you've planned your route, it can often help to do a 'dry run' of the trip on the sim. It can help you to visualise the landmarks that you are going to see along the way.
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My advice; stick to your headings and make sure you are flying in balance and at your planned speed. Try planning a nav-ex flying to some big easy to identify targets. Then do the flight, sticking rigidly to accurately flying the plan. I'm pretty sure you'll discover that actually at the kind of speeds and winds you're likely to be dealing with, your planning works really really well if you just fly accurately. Once you have convinced yourself that accurate flying really really helps, and once you've perfected that to the extent that you can free up a bit of a spare capacity whilst still flying accurately, you'll discover all sorts of landmarks that will help to back up the plan as you go, and you'll be able to fly to harder to identify places.
When I was learning to fly fixed wing, I got seriously lost nearly every time I went up! However, once I discovered that there's no point in planning a flight if you don't fly that plan, it all suddenly worked. The problem is, you go up and think you see a landmark you need, and so change your flight direction too early. Instead; look at the landmark, but still fly the plan. Look out for another landmark that either backs up that you are on the plan, or backs up that you should be flying off on that other route - but keep flying the plan. Only deviate from the plan when you are 100% certain that you are not quite right because you have assessed multiple landmarks and can see where you should actually be going. Try doing that with the easily identifiable landmarks for turning points as I've already suggested, so you know you're highly unlikely to get lost, and just prove to yourself that actually, wind predictions are pretty good, and if they are incorrect, it is rare that it is to the extent that you get totally lost by flying the plan.
Good luck.
When I was learning to fly fixed wing, I got seriously lost nearly every time I went up! However, once I discovered that there's no point in planning a flight if you don't fly that plan, it all suddenly worked. The problem is, you go up and think you see a landmark you need, and so change your flight direction too early. Instead; look at the landmark, but still fly the plan. Look out for another landmark that either backs up that you are on the plan, or backs up that you should be flying off on that other route - but keep flying the plan. Only deviate from the plan when you are 100% certain that you are not quite right because you have assessed multiple landmarks and can see where you should actually be going. Try doing that with the easily identifiable landmarks for turning points as I've already suggested, so you know you're highly unlikely to get lost, and just prove to yourself that actually, wind predictions are pretty good, and if they are incorrect, it is rare that it is to the extent that you get totally lost by flying the plan.
Good luck.
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Many thanks for all the helpful replies. I am doing a dummy run for my x-country solo this week and will adjust my flying technique accordingly, one of the main points that i thinks has come out of this is having faith in the planned route, and follow my heading/speed as accurately as possible.
I will update shorty and hopefully it wont be as much of a headache this time!
I dont have access to a flight SIM of any kind, might have a look into this though?
I will update shorty and hopefully it wont be as much of a headache this time!
I dont have access to a flight SIM of any kind, might have a look into this though?
