Great
Now that we have that cleared up, how do I find the distance of an airport from a VOR? Can this be found at SkyVector?
Yes... and no. Skyvector just shows charts... if you have the VFR sectional in front of you (pick one up.. each one has a huge enough area to let you plan and fly countless flights), you can measure the distance from a VOR to an airport... OR.. if you go to
www.airnav.com ... each airport's main page has a list of nearby nav-aids; their bearing and distance to the airport..
Another simple way is to look at the MSFS navlog: if the VOR in question is loaded as a waypoint, the log will show you bearing and distance to the next waypoint, which is your destination.
VORs are aligned with local magnetic north, so assuming MSFS has the local variation plugged-in, the mag heading it gives you will be the same as the number of the outbound radial you want. this does not account for wind, of course...
But Airnav is better if you don't want to bother making up and saving a plan using the sim. Most airport listings list more than one VOR or NDB nearby with bearings and distance, and they also sometimes include airport diagrams as well as all relevant runway info.
Best of all, of course, for any scenario, is to get a real chart (pilot shops throw them away, unused, when they expire) and find the correct radial and distances yourself. You don't need to buy a plotter- the scale is on the chart. Mark 10 nm increments on a piece of paper or ruler or use dividers, and you're good to go. This will work even if you have printed a chart from skyvector and it's not full-sized.
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."
