Simviation Forums

Since NDB's are being phased out in the Real World and DME's put
in their place, how can you navigate to a DME ?

Just wondering.

Bill A. (aka Gringo6)

DME is distance measuring equipment. It is usually ( not always) coupled with VOR stations. Tune your nav radio to the appropriate frequency to tune in a VOR, DME, or VOR-DME. DME cannot be used for guidance. It only provides a calculated skant distance between you and the station antenna. VOR can be used fir guidance. You will set your OBS to the radial you are flying on, either to, or away from the VOR.

The real world of aiviation is actually trending away from radio navigation, and using GNSS positioning instead. Navigating by GNSS is more efficient, as it can provide more direct routing, and dies not suffer from issues associated with radio navigation, such as range and line of sight requirements fir radio signals.

seems to me that DME only beacons are really a waste of money.

Gringo6 wrote:seems to me that DME only beacons are really a waste of money.

DME can be a great tool when flying a route because it can give a pilot the distance from where he is at to where the VOR is located and he can tell if there is a quicker path and save on fuel. In the real world a pilot has to decide which route is the most fuel efficient and adjust his flight plan accordingly .
NDB'S were only a basic way to navigate and were never an exact tract from point A to point B since there are no radials from an NDB OR Non Directional Beacon is just that all it really tells you is which general direction it is at.
And at the time it was considered a help. So I am not surprised to see them being phased out. Of course that will mean that older aircraft will have to replace there NDB equipment whit the newer technology which is not going to be cheap
and than the pilot might have to be re certified to use it.