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[beaky]

Lol, the WIZ WHEEL! I asked a CFI at my airfield (one other than my own instructor) to help me with it and they all erupted into laughter... apparently it's not "cool" in the aviation world to be using an old jepp flight computer. And with me, it's downright dangerous. I keep forgettin how to do things on it...

beefhole, lotsa cool pilots make the headlines in airplanes  because they're just too darn cool for their own good. They seem to think money and convenience (and trendiness) can protect them from their own stupidity. A whizwheel can do anything an electronic flight computer can do, but it'll never crash or go blank or run out of juice, and it's damn near impossible to break one.  I'm not a CFI (yet),but  I'd advise you to practice using a whiz wheel and keep it in your flight bag, at least as a backup. When you accidentally dump the contents of your bag into a mud puddle some fine day at some distant airport,, you'll discover another benefit of using the humble whiz wheel.  A lot of older, less cool airline pilots still carry them. And don't get me started on training for VFR pilotage using GPS...  >:(

[beefhole]

Yeah, I know, I'm kidding around. My instructor told me the same wise words, rotty.

[beaky]

I'm very well aware of that... it doesn't mean its hip today.  Gotta stay with the times. And I seriously shouldn't be using one, my times were all off last cross-country...

I wish you many happy landings, but just remember: garbage in, garbage out. An electronic computer is not going to know if you entered the wrong data. BTW, how far off were you and where do you think you went wrong, if I may ask?

[beefhole]

The times were all a few minutes longer than the planned-in fact there were some weird-ass winds aloft that may have shifted so the times may have been right in the first place.

[beaky]

Yeah, I know, I'm kidding around. My instructor told me the same wise words, rotty.

I didn't mean to sound all huffy; I was near hysteria trying to understand how to use the E6B, and honestly, since I've only been able to fly once in the last 2 yrs  :'(, I'm not 100% sure I'd be able to sit down and plan a flight without peeking at the manual. I intend to brush up on that soon, flying the sim. Maybe I'll let "Cap'n Sharp" explain it to me this time; he seems to have his priorities in order...

[beaky]

The times were all a few minutes longer than the planned-in fact there were some weird-ass winds aloft that may have shifted so the times may have been right in the first place.  We had a massive headwind going south and a serious tailwind going north that may have shifted, who knows.  The point is, when I use it I may think a few times I'm doing it right until I notice that I'm doing it completely wrong, say a fancy curse (or two, or three), erase, and start all over.  Oh well I've only planned 2 CCs and I've only flown one.  At least WCA is easy (no-brainer  :P).

Yeah, like every part of flying it just takes practice. there's a lot of new stuff that has to become second nature, and half of it doesn't make sense at first. And there's so many other ways to screw up than by making a miscalculation with a flight computer!!! Oh, man...  on my first solo hop in the pattern, the wind changed up while I was midfield  downwind with the runway on my left. The wind was weak; I probably could've landed downwind, but there was a plane in front of me and one behind me, and suddenly everybody on the CTAF decides we're using the other runway (bear in mind that due to noise abatement, the area on the other side of this runway is never overflown in the pattern, so you have to fly left- or right-hand patterns on the same side). Well, it wasn't until that moment that I asked myself: at what point in the pattern do I turn around? Which way should I turn? And why wasn't this covered in groundschool?! Did I miss this in the AIM?
I was too embarassed to ask (mistake!!!), and I  lost sight of the   guy in front of me (he turned out of the pattern immediately to re-enter a right-hand downwind), so I just extended my downwind till I was well past the pattern, then turned around so that I fell behind the guy who had been behind me previously, this time on downwind with the runway on my right.  My CFI almost chided me for not knowing the procedure, then recalled that he had, in fact, never mentioned it- in fact, he wasn't sure if it had ever happened to him...

[rajiv2]

thnks!!!! guys@ but i would liked to aske if how pilot plot thier course if there destination is 4000nm or more like VHHH(hongkong)  to LAX (los angeles) and are all airplanes have a gps?is it required in FAA?

[Nexus]

For those long flights, the pilots get their route from their dispatch office. The dispatchers job is simply to find the most economical AND time saving route...which is a very tricky job. Usually the dispatcher comes up with several route options and talk to the pilots of the various pros and cons  :)

All airliners aren't GPS equipped, but have inertial navigation systems instead. You can read my reply in this thread, if you're interested of how they work.
http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 26;start=1