The VFR Map since SU5 does this fancy and imaginary turn from departure to your next waypoint, as well as fancy curves past a POI or waypoint.
This is nice and fancy, but not realistic at all.
Real GPS is point to point, and it’s up to the pilot to regain track after takeoff.
Real GPS is point to point, and it will take you directly overhead a waypoint before then turning.
Only a fancy FMS system will attempt to add curves, but that will still get you overhead your departure point after any turn.
The reason for this is simple: Your calculated tracks, VOR radials, lower safe altitudes and almost everything you do, rely on accurate tracking, not some arbitrary line that is built from after a turn direct to the next point (or worse, another curve).
This I can get behind.
Having spent MANY years flying dead reckoning in the mountains, the technique depicted would have killed me a LONG time ago.
I’ll bet most of us have seen ‘Hunt For Red October’. When the Russian sub is running “Red Route 1”, the navigator is calculating the heading required at a specific speed for a fixed distance. A minor deviation, “out of the lane by more than a boat length”, is a disaster.
When flying a route through the mountains, the pilot MUST pas directly over a fix, reset the clock and set heading for the next waypoint. Good VFR pilots will check time, distance and drift 60 seconds after crossing the ‘set heading point’. The accuracy of this check and the accuracy of the adjustments is paramount. Once completed, the time over next fix is calculated and adhered to, with continuous position checks along the way.
Using this technique, I have flown under the hood, except for ground checks, (with a qualified spotter pilot), through some very tight, winding mountain passes. One in particular requires eight fixes over 34 NMs, culminating in a passage through a cut only 900 metres wide.
If I was to follow a tech wonder with nice curving lines, I can guarantee an abrupt end to progress.
Try flying a non-precision approach beginning with an NDB fix without passing directly over the fix.
