You can also take a look at 'Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots: Real World Training'.

 

Thanks for that. I will definitely follow this up - will check the library first and hopefully get lucky.

 

You simply have to give it a try indeed and as soon as you get confused, just ask it here and we will help you along.

 

And thanks Jeroen. It certainly appears daunting when you start out but I want to give it a really good try this time. With no GPS red line to follow in Flight there is a real incentive to master this VOR navigation thing.

 

Cheers

Trevor

With no GPS red line to follow in Flight there is a real incentive to master this VOR navigation thing.

 

Indeed! Flight made me go for it. Which is quite funny considering a lot of people refuse to call the game a sim. I have to say that flying with VOR is so much more fun then flying with GPS...!!! To me right now GPS is just as boring as Flight's destination markers in jobs... I almost feel like I've wasted years NOT using VOR and relying on GPS all the time...

The basics of VOR are nice but the real fun begins when you start using triangulation (getting everywhere you want to using intersections of radials) and intercepting VOR using sectors and making good use of the TO/FROM indicator to figure out where you are.

The fun thing is that VOR gives you something to do ALL the time during Flight! No more staring at the GPS or glaring outside waiting until you reached your destination but there is work to be done, stuff to be checked, things to be rotated. Love it.

You can also take a look at 'Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots: Real World Training'. I found it to be a good introduction to the sometimes complicated world of instrument navigation! It was written with FSX in mind but almost all the info is generally applicable. Here is a link to the publisher's site that has some extras you can download for free including a few chapters and some sample charts etc... http://ca.wiley.com/...d-DOWNLOAD.html

 

I agree with the advice. It's a giant volume, can be also intimidating and overwhelming for the huge content, but has a very good modular approach, starting from a simple Cub, progressing through the Cessna 172, the Mooney Bravo and the Baron, to arrive, in the free appendices, to airliners.

 

A.

To me right now GPS is just as boring as Flight's destination markers in jobs.

 

Now you know why I quit using the GPS for navigation! :D

 

Next time you do a flight in FSX, plan the flight to go VOR to VOR rather than a GPS direct route. Then use the VOR information from the flight plan on the kneeboard to set frequencies and such and fly by the various VOR instruments. Ignore the magenta line on the GPS. Eventually try it by writing the VOR information on paper and not even putting in a flight plan.

 

Note that in FSX (and real life) the VORs don't always line up perfectly with magnetic north, so you may be a few degrees off. This may not be noticable unless you have a glass cockpit. Don't worry, 1 degree off is only one mile at 60 miles, and 60 miles is probably the max distance you'll want between VORs anyway.

 

Hook

Next time you do a flight in FSX, plan the flight to go VOR to VOR rather than a GPS direct route.

 

This is beginning to sound really exciting. I don't have FSX but I think I will now start to get a lot more satisfaction out of FS9 and Flight once I master this thing. I am a bit like a dog with a bone once I get going and so I just need a bit of time to get there. Will post again once I have done my first VOR flight. Thanks guys.

Hello

This may help:

http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/index.htm

Next time you do a flight in FSX, plan the flight to go VOR to VOR rather than a GPS direct route. Then use the VOR information from the flight plan on the kneeboard to set frequencies and such and fly by the various VOR instruments. Ignore the magenta line on the GPS. Eventually try it by writing the VOR information on paper and not even putting in a flight plan.

 

Well, that's what I've been doing in Flight the last weeks! Before I take off I figure out where I want to go and use the map of Hawaii to see which VORs I can use. I note the VOR freqs and radials I want to use on paper and then take off. I don't fly VOR to VOR that often because that would quite often make the flight longer then necessary: I usually use VORs to check where I am and if I am going in the right direction and in the end I use triangulation to get to my destination or simply intercept the radial of a VOR if my destination has one on the field. Big fun.

 

This is beginning to sound really exciting. I don't have FSX but I think I will now start to get a lot more satisfaction out of FS9 and Flight once I master this thing. I am a bit like a dog with a bone once I get going and so I just need a bit of time to get there. Will post again once I have done my first VOR flight. Thanks guys.

 

Well, it IS exciting! It's a good idea to learn all about it step by step. Don't try to grasp it all at once. Start with flying straight to a VOR and when that works out well, try for instance to intercept a specific radial to or from a VOR. Do it step by step.

 

Hello

This may help:

http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/index.htm

 

http://www.navfltsm....com/vor-nav.htm

 

It's a very good site indeed. The best, maybe. That video I posted underneath that link tells (amongst others) a bit more about the 'line of ambiguity': the navfltsm site doesn't tell much about it (as far as I can remember) while knowing how that works is very good for your situational awareness. Since I watched that video I look at the TO/FROM indicator a lot more during flights, simply to check where I am without having to turn the OBS knob. Before that I almost only looked at the TO/FROM indicator when I needed to set the desired radial.

A good understanding of VOR usage is also critical for when your GPS breaks.

 

Yeah, I know Flight doesn't model system failures, but the concept is still important for being a well-rounded pilot. You never want to be totally reliant on a single device or instrument. I still remember on one of my early instructional flights when I needed to calculate a new wind-correction angle in the air... I pulled out my shiny new electronic E6B and started punching in numbers. My CFI snatched it out of my hand, pulled the battery and tossed it into the back seat, then handed the calculator back. "Battery's dead. Now what do you do?" he said.

 

I sighed, then smiled a little and pulled out my metal circular slide-rule E6B.

I sighed, then smiled a little and pulled out my metal circular slide-rule E6B...

 

That's a good story! Sounds like your CFI was old school (in the best sort of way) and keen to pass on practical experiences...

I started a topic dedicated to VOR:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/372241-the-big-vor-topic/

 

It's not a tutorial but I had trouble finding this topic back again because the subject (combat game) has nothing to do with VOR... And since I also posted questions and answered a few in various other topics (usually very OT) I thought it would be a good idea to start a dedicated topic about VOR to prevent some good information being hidden for eternity in topics about planes without VC and weather themes or what not.

 

So maybe we can continue our conversation there...? Feel free to keep on posting here, of course, but also feel free to post there.

pulled out my metal circular slide-rule E6B

 

I've still got mine, and it still has little pencil marks on it from the last time I used it.

The fun thing is that VOR gives you something to do ALL the time during Flight! No more staring at the GPS or glaring outside waiting until you reached your destination but there is work to be done, stuff to be checked, things to be rotated. Love it.

 

Unfortunately, I'm often stuck with outside views such as this. Just no time to rotate, watch needles, & triangulate...

I'll just have to make do, with the GPS.

<<<<<------ Is envious.

I need to go find my old E6B and give it a whril again! Don't need no stinkin batterys!