Howdy,

 

I hope I am posting this in the right thread, if not then please redirect me. I am trying to learn how to fly a DME arc at the moment and need some clarification. Let's say the DME is 110.8, I can just enter that into NAV 1 and it'll direct me using my CDI, right? There is no other information I need to put into the radio stack on my C172, correct?

 

Much appreciated,

Clayton

You don't need to put other information there, correct. You need to tune the VOR in order to have a radial and distance indication, and one receiver is sufficient here. But you still need to know how to interpret the data in order to fly the arc, which for most might be the bigger problem.

Edited December 10, 20196 yr by badderjet

14 hours ago, ClaytonYosten said:

I am trying to learn how to fly a DME arc at the moment and need some clarification. Let's say the DME is 110.8, I can just enter that into NAV 1 and it'll direct me using my CDI, right? There is no other information I need to put into the radio stack on my C172, correct?

Correct, but don't forget that you have to reset the CDI every 10deg. 

Here's an explanation:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=608S92wSTbg

Edited December 11, 20196 yr by FDEdev

I wrote an article some time ago for our local VATSIM members here in NZ. It is a bit dated but you might find some value in it.

https://www.vatnz.net/pilots/pilot-guides/non-precision-approach/

1 hour ago, FDEdev said:

Correct, but don't forget that you have to reset the CDI every 10deg. 

Here's an explanation:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=608S92wSTbg

 

13 minutes ago, cowpatz said:

I wrote an article some time ago for our local VATSIM members here in NZ. It is a bit dated but you might find some value in it.

https://www.vatnz.net/pilots/pilot-guides/non-precision-approach/

 

Good on  your guys!  I remember learning to fly that as part of my flight training a very long time ago before PFM electronics and what not... it's great to see flight simmers doing this!

 

 

9 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

it's great to see flight simmers doing this!

I fully agree and I'm delighted that some simmers are interested in 'real' and more complex navigation. 🙂👍

Edited December 11, 20196 yr by FDEdev

Fully concur, Dave and FDEdev. It even taught me.

By the way, you should see how the Majestic Dash 8 autopilot flies something somewhat similar... RNAV Radius to Fix.... amazing!  I really mean it, it's incredible to see, best in the sim world!

 

21 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

By the way, you should see how the Majestic Dash 8 autopilot flies something somewhat similar... RNAV Radius to Fix.... amazing!  I really mean it, it's incredible to see, best in the sim world!

 

RF legs are a different story, although they kinda look the same. But they are not necessarily tied to a DME.

Also, there are more lazy methods than navigating with the CDI. If you are RMI equipped you could use that as well and it might be even easier to do. That way you could really aim for a smooth arc with less straight segments in between. Just a matter of taste.

On 12/11/2019 at 7:58 AM, badderjet said:

RF legs are a different story, although they kinda look the same. But they are not necessarily tied to a DME.

Also, there are more lazy methods than navigating with the CDI. If you are RMI equipped you could use that as well and it might be even easier to do. That way you could really aim for a smooth arc with less straight segments in between. Just a matter of taste.

Yeah, of course my friend. 

On 12/11/2019 at 7:31 AM, DaveCT2003 said:

you should see how the Majestic Dash 8 autopilot flies something somewhat similar... RNAV Radius to Fix

I guess I didn't really explain what I was talking about all that well and I may have shifted gears a little too quickly. My comment was more about the software capability of higher end flight sim aircraft to calculate, draw the path correctly on the ND, and then follow  (fly) the ARC on the ND.  Some people may not be aware, but the aircraft doesn't usually follow the path that is drawn on the ND  (the autopilot doesn't take it's input from what is drawn on the ND) but rather takes it's inp uit from the flight path calculations that we don't see. Depending on how it's programmed, the two may not even be linked mathematically in the code. 

Anyway, this isn't even close to being a simple thing to program and it's really a thing of beauty to see it work perfectly such as it does in the Majestic Dash 8!  I haven't used them in a very long time, but I think the PMDG 737 for P3D does this correctly as well but don't hold me to it.

 

I completely forgot I asked this question and since went on to learn it through other material. I appreciate the effort of everyone and I'll look through the links y'all posted.