Does anyone navigate using dead reckoning?

[Guest]

and use a stopwatch or similar to keep track of time

 

Hm, I might give it a try once but do you have an easy way to calculate the time needed to get to the waypoints...? Cruising speed (knots) divided by distance (nm) er...?

[jerry allen 3]

You make your own E6B (front side) by going here.

http://ben.com/flying/e6b/e6b.pdf

 

Jetjerry

[Guest]

You make your own E6B (front side) by going here.

http://ben.com/flying/e6b/e6b.pdf

 

Jetjerry

 

Oh my, that looks pretty daunting... But that's what's used to calculate the time also...? Time to Google... ^_^

[yankeegolf3 52]

yes , you need to calculate your ground speed from the indicated airspeed by taking into account the altitude (gives true air speed), your intended course and the wind direction and velocity (gives ground speed). A wind correction angle will be required to give you the correct heading. An E6B does that for you. you also need a stopwatch . If you fly the Lancair, there is one included.

Good luck!!

[1Wolf 8]

Hook,

 

I'm pretty much in the exact same situation as YankeeGolf above. I'm still pretty new to FSX, but in FS9 VFR Navigation in small GA Aircraft by Dead Reckoning and Pilotage was all that I ever did. I used to take great enjoyment out of "reliving" cross-country flights that I'd taken in a C172 in real life back when I was in flight training to see how close FS9 could come to what I'd really seen. It was back before GPS's were in such common use so I'd never actually flown with GPS. I learned to use the units in the flight sim and I wish I had those back when I was flying. It would have really taken some of the edge off that "Oh S***, what if I get lost?!?!?!" feeling. That sure would have beat fiddling with VOR's, a big map, and plotters in your lap trying to triangulate your position.

 

Like YankeeGold, I've got all the Sectionals for the US (Well...most of them at least). The actual Sectionals though instead of an Atlas Format. None of those charts are current though and were purchased anywhere between sometime in the 80's and 90's through 2006. Areas that I do alot of local flight, I've got the Terminal Charts as well. We usually used those back when I used to fly as they had a much better depiction of landmarks. It used to be fun for me to see just how close FS9 with addons could come to what was really there.

 

I'd go through the whole 9 yards. Plan the flight, choose landmarks, choose VOR's for a crosscheck, figure the times. I'd actually plan the flight in advance, and then just prior to my "simulated" flight I'd get the weather and set my weather program (ActiveSky at the time) to simulate that, do my final run of my figures, jot down my courses and times with the wind correction, and fly. I'd grab the time once I was airborne and, for me at least, it was great fun seeing how accurate (or inaccurate) the sim and weather effects were. It was alot of fun and kind of rewarding to arrive at a checkpoint when you expected you would, flying the course you calculated based on the winds.

 

I'm sure some folks would find it horribly boring...but I liked it

[yankeegolf3 52]

if you need an E6B

 

http://www.csgnetwork.com/e6bcalc.html

[TonyM 0]

Do it quite a lot.

 

Outback Australia, with FTX all regions installed and with approx 300

OZX strips, none of which have AFCADs, so they don,t come up on

GPS.

 

Nothing more rewarding than after a 40-50min flight in a small single, over vast red

countryside, when a tiny dirt strip appears.

 

Nothing more frustrating ,when it does NOT !!!

 

Cheers

 

TonyM

[mckeonj 0]

I have tried something like it in FS9; flying around Africa in a vintage open cockpit flying boat, coasting all the way, and getting bearings on NDBs, presuming they were broadcasting stations.. Refuelling was done only at established seaports, presuming that ships carrying fuel had been sent there.

The hairiest part was flying across the Horn of Africa (Somalia) on magnetic compass heading; this was necessary because fuel range precluded coasting around. Coming down on land would have been the end of the flight, the plane, and both pilots.

Incidentally; you obviously cannot 'land' a float plane; so what do you do?

[vololiberista 205]

There was a film on youtube called "Nought Feet" a wartime training film in dead-reckoning. It doesn't seem available now.

 

The greatest story of Dead Reckoning was Shakleton crossing the Southern Ocean. In 800nm they were only able to take sextant readings four times due to the bad weather.

[tttocs 301]

Good thread! Pilotage and dead-reckoning are an integral part of private pilot training (at least they were in the US and I assume still are) so they're the navigation basics that most of us who do (or did) fly IRL started with. A cheap paper or plasticized E6B was part of the basic "learn to fly" kit, and a good metal one was always a nice new-pilot gift - though I suppose these days an electronic variant or a handheld GPS is more common except for those of us with a healthy sense of history (or is it an excess of nostalgia?). And yes the techniques involved are fun and not really that hard once you do it a time or two.

 

I don't do that many planned dead-reckoning x-country flights in the sim, but I do occasionally and I fairly often do VFR site-seeing/hamburger hop flights by nothing but pilotage - obviously in areas where I have decent accurate scenery. Interestingly enough, flying by pilotage is one of several things that I think are actually harder in the sim than IRL. But even flying IFR, I'm one of "those" guys who tries to navigate redundantly when possible. I may be cruising along on an IFR GPS-based flightplan, but I still cross-reference with VOR, DME, or ADF as available and by visual reference using sectionals and doing rough time/distance calculations in my head because - again - it's fun. It adds to the pleasure of the sim and the feeling of being a pilot in command rather than just a passenger. Just because you have and use GPS doesn't mean you have to give up some of the basics.

 

I also at least emotionally hate the idea of NDB's being decommissioned. Rationally, I know their usefulness has diminished, but there's something about learning to fly NDB approaches on windy days (and having it actually work out!) that stays with you I guess. Not that I'd relish the idea of actually having to fly one for real in lousy conditions. :-)

 

Good stuff,

 

Scott

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

VFR sky vector good site for basic vfr charts. Only fly c-172 and c-162 by dead reckoning notating where power lines, railroads, airports, highways, rivers, mountain passes are. Draw my routes on paper and get adf and vor stations frequencies to triangulate positions. Certain areas in Midwest note radio towers and flashing lights at small airports to assist in navigation.

[g_precentralis 191]

Actually, thats how basic PPL training in Europe works.

 

Here is map of flight I made sometimes ago:

[Great Ozzie 101]

What about using an RMI set up to receive the VOR signal, but simply point to the station rather than giving info on radials?

 

This was permitted only in the U.S. and Canada... the sole exception outside the States was NATAL (NTL) near Augusto Severo Airport in Brazil (SBNT). So nothing on my route permitted.

 

The setting was 1949...

 

"Wanting to showcase Argentina’s future, the regime has just completed Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza International (SAEZ) which, at the moment, is the world’s largest airport. To integrate Argentina into the world economy, the political and business leaders want to establish both fast communications and regularized passenger air links with the major cities of both North America and Europe. Accordingly, they are conducting an aviation race to both encourage entrepreneurs and to capture the world’s attention." (Evita Rules v1.1)

 

 

Seems that would be more like the old airways, and the VORs have 195 mile ranges rather than the 37.5 or 75 mile ranges on the NDF transmitters.

 

Yes that would have been nice! But it was 1949 and...

 

There were some HH NDBs (112nm) and that was bonus when back to back (at both dept. & arrv. airports)

 

 

The most remote airport in FSX. You get a badge for visiting it.

 

Yes. Actually, I already had because I was on a "mission" to collect those thingys when I discovered Flight Simulator X rewards at SimTours.net

[Guest]

yes , you need to calculate your ground speed from the indicated airspeed by taking into account the altitude (gives true air speed), your intended course and the wind direction and velocity (gives ground speed). A wind correction angle will be required to give you the correct heading. An E6B does that for you. you also need a stopwatch . If you fly the Lancair, there is one included.

Good luck!!

 

if you need an E6B

 

http://www.csgnetwork.com/e6bcalc.html

 

Er... right... I think I will stick to VOR. ^_^

[Rocky_53 1,594]

Sure, not always, but sometimes I'll bring up Google Earth on one monitor and fly by that... I always find this kind of navigation very rewarding as it makes you concentrate continually while flying.