Quick question...

[Brett_Henderson]

I dunno... Sometimes on those X-Cs when your suddenly doing 10 things at once it just feels nice to dial in a radial, hit AP/NAV and let it steer itself for a minute while you figure out exactly where you are and who you should be talking to.

That's probably the best use of A/P I can imagine..

[beefhole]

I've never used A/P-it's never been even mentioned in my training.  I routinely use the GPS however, both with my instructor and solo.  I don't FLY the GPS-I use it so I don't get lost, plain and simple.  I use VOR radials also, but I don't fly VOR to VOR.

[Brett_Henderson]

First time you have to fly 1,000nm or more, alone.. and for good chunks of that trip, find yourself VFR on top, without a GPS...  trust me.. You'll love VOR to VOR navigation (and the auto-pilot)...

[beefhole]

First time you have to fly 1,000nm or more, alone.. and for good chunks of that trip, find yourself VFR on top, without a GPS...  trust me.. You'll love VOR to VOR navigation (and the auto-pilot)...

I already like VOR to VOR, my instructor just prefers I fly a straight-line route, (except to avoid class B) which means I'm referencing radials instead of flying them.  My VOR work is pretty much perfect though.

[Brett_Henderson]

If you've got VOR navigating down pat; and can fly a hold that's referenced by the intersection of two radials.. then you're 1/2-way through the skills you'll need to be a good instrument pilot. Makes me excited to here that stuff.

As for VOR to VOR.. nine times out of ten, you're on one radial until you intersect another and so on.. Rarely flying to a VOR and then away from it... unless they line up nicely..

Straight-line navigation, for distances in the hundreds of miles, at cruising altitude, over unfamiliar territory, is very VERY tough when you're just referencing radials at certain points, with a sectional in one hand and the yoke in the other (enter A/P)..  It can be done for the shorter trips that student would be taking when legs rarely exceed 100nm and you really can't stray too far off course anyway.

Throw in some clouds between you and the ground (man is THAT something to see) and, sans GPS, there's really no other way to accurately navigate hundreds of miles, VFR.

[Brett_Henderson]

Another skill that seems to be lost in the GPS era, is estimating your ground speed (and the winds) and ETE by  VOR (or NDB, but that's tricky when the winds aloft are strong)..

Brush up on that little trick and you'll impress the snot out of your instructor, as working DMEs are getting rarer than working ADFs..

[beefhole]

Another skill that seems to be lost in the GPS era, is estimating your ground speed (and the winds) and ETE by  VOR (or NDB, but that's tricky when the winds aloft are strong)..

Estimating my GS has never come up in my training.  If my ATEs are shorter than my ETEs, than I'm going faster, etc.  It's all I've ever needed to know.  Suppose I could whip out the whiz wheel...

[Drake_TigerClaw]

I used the GPS for flights twice. Once for a leg of a long XC becaue they taught me to use it nav class so I figured I make sure I remembered how and once on my flight to KCSG because it has a big restricted area next to it over Ft. Benning and I really wanted to make sure I was avoiding it. But mostly I use the map and a compass and maybe a VOR or NDB. I dont use the AP much but its part of al the cheklists so I got curious a few times. No alt hold so you still gotta watch it but like I said it helps when your looking at your map, looking at your timer, looking at the ground, looking out for traffic, being handed off, and changing altimiter settings all at the same time.

I still think HSIs and RMIs are witchcraft.