Simviation Forums

1st off, sorry if this is the wrong section for this, but this is based on the Oil Rigs in FS2004........


ok, im stupid.... what in Microsoft's Green World, is a Radial??? I know what a "radius" is as part of a circle... but I wanted to try to find all the default hidden oil rigs, but i can never figure out what the hell a Radial is......

1st rig:: Fly from Armstrong International (KMSY) to the Leeville VOR (LEV) frequency 113.50 and then turn and fly the 103 FROM radial to reach your first oil rig platform at 18.8 DME

2nd rig:: Take off from Rig Alpha (KR01) and fly a heading of 270. Intercept the 164 Radial FROM Leeville VOR and fly to a DME of 31.4



no offense, but why not just say... "Take off from Rig Alpha (KR01) and fly a heading of 270 for 20nm {2 minutes} then turn to heading 345 for 10nm {1 minute}??????

Did i miss one of the "before you fly Tutorials" or something??? not everyone is a REAL LIFE PILOT!

Radials are the heading lines directly coming from or going to a VOR station.

Here's an example:



In the middle is the VOR station. The aircraft is flying FROM the VOR at radial 315. If, in this picture, the plane were turned TOWARDS the VOR station, it would be flying TO the VOR at radial 135.

Brett and others here can explain much better than I. Hopefully, however, I've given you a bit of a light bulb?

I'll step in here. VOR navigation is tricky stuff.. many REAL pilots still have trouble with it...

SubZer0's answer is a good primer. It shows an aircraft on a radial.

ok.... so let me see if i can get this figured out.....

1st rig:: Fly from Armstrong International (KMSY) to the Leeville VOR (LEV) frequency 113.50 and then turn and fly the 103 FROM radial to reach your first oil rig platform at 18.8 DME

is really saying....... Fly from Armstrong International (KMSY) to the Leeville VOR (LEV) frequency 113.50, and then turn to OBS Heading 103 going away from that VOR ...... (*tune 018.8 DME / VOR*).... and I should find the Oil Rig.

?????????????

Here's how I'd do it...

-Tune the NAV radio to 113.5

-Spin the OBS until the CDI needle centered with a TO indication (it will also center on a FROM indication)

-Fly whatever heading that is until reaching the VOR (the DME will let you know when you're getting close)

-At 1 mile from the VOR, spin the OBS to 103 and then start a slow turn to a heading of 103

-Use the CDI needle to center yourself on the 103 radial, and stay on that radial (it will take a heading of other than 103 if there is any sort of X-wind)


-When the DME reads

May as well mention, in addition, Capt., that if you're feeling lazy, and whichever aeroplane you're flying has an autopilot, you can just click on 'NAV' and it will fly the radials for you........

Where's that GPS when you need it  :).

[quote]Where's that GPS when you need it

[color=#000000]
Allow me to add a brief addendum to what has been written...

There is -on your own computer- a marvelous resource cleverly named the "Learning Center."

Might I suggest actually using it? It is a comprehensive encyclopedia of FS, complete with an excellent, searchable index.

You can find the answer to nearly any question quickly...

ok.... so let me see if i can get this figured out.....

1st rig:: Fly from Armstrong International (KMSY) to the Leeville VOR (LEV) frequency 113.50 and then turn and fly the 103 FROM radial to reach your first oil rig platform at 18.8 DME

is really saying....... Fly from Armstrong International (KMSY) to the Leeville VOR (LEV) frequency 113.50, and then turn to OBS Heading 103 going away from that VOR ...... (*tune 018.8 DME / VOR*).... and I should find the Oil Rig.

?????????????

well, i'll try to explain the information here as a kind of tutorial... (VOR nav is really easy once you understand it)

first off, look at your VOR... it's basically a compass that doesn't point north, with 2 crossing lines in the middle, and a big pretty knob

now, the horizontal line is not used for VOR navigation, so much so that your secondary VOR (C172) doesn't even have it, so let's focus on the vertical line, and the compass-like scale around it... and, of course the knob

Get over this flying TO a VOR.  You're flying TO a radial and you cross over the VOR to get to it.

[quote]Get over this flying TO a VOR.

Think about it.

Ambiguity, AND counterintuitivity

And the fact that you can get to the VOR (how come we're not calling them VORTAC - they all seem to have DME) tracking the FROM radial.