Hello! I’m so greatful for the response I’ve got after posting my questions. I will read what youve written and follow links etc. =) If you also have any links to someone performing VFR and IFR flight with a standard planning (nothing fancy) between two local airports in lets say a piper or cessna - that would be of help. Ive found a lot of videos on youtube, but as I wrote - I find a bunch of them just too “speeded up” for me. I want somone (possibly a real pilot), just sit down and explain things in a calm matter… =)
Thank you once again, and I will get back with more questions. =)
This is a brief and very simple description (right up my street) of the different types of navigation in the order they came into being.
‘Captain Joe’ made an interesting comment on one of his videos about navigation…VOR vs GPS - pilots still need to understand VOR. ‘What happens if someone turns off the satellite’s?’
As I said earlier, I’ve started at the beginning with looking out for landmarks….good fun. Then flying a bearing with a stopwatch, then NDB/ADF a very very easy method, assuming your plane even has the receiver (the ADF). Still one of favourite aircraft, the Cessna 152, has the ADF on the right hand side. Watch Huddison video (above) which is very patiently and slowly explained.
Both instructive and entertaining, hosted by a RL Pilot who knows both what he is talking about, with the ability to convey that information in a clear and concise way.
You are too kind! I’m just a guy who has a passion both the sim and rw flying. There is so much potential to increase a person’s enjoyment of the sim by correlating real-world ideas and I’m always happy to help foster that!
Nothing stupid about not knowing something…just not trying to learn something is what I would call stupid.
That said…I would suggest you take the build in flight school and kinda do what all real pilots I know have done. Learn to walk, before trying to run.
If you are talking about VFR I am assuming you are not looking at flying a 747 at 36000ft back and forth accross the atlantic.
VFR is in principle simply flying by what you can see outside of the windows of your aircraft first and foremost. So after you have managed to fly your airplane around the local airport you can venture out a little further. The first thing you need for that is a map…not necessarily an aviation VFR chart, though that does provide much more information usefull for a pilot than a street or hiking map.
But with MSFS you can actually fly using a good street atlas and still get where you want to go.
Flying by VORs, NDBs is technically already flying by using instruments…beyond what is needed for VFR at least looking at FAA rules. Look inside the cockpit of a J3 Cub and you see what you need for Daytime VFR…one of the items is actually outside of the cockpit since the fuel gauge is not a gauge on the panel but a swimmer flag directly in the tank-cap.
I suggest learn that part of VFR flying first…and then add the other complexities later.
Lots of great info above that really speaks to the generosity of the people on these boards.
When I realized that I had a burning desire to learn “the right way” to do things, I decided to take an online ground school course. While most are geared toward passing the written, if you take one, you’ll learn a lot about flying and yes, regulations. You’ll learn what the basic instruments are for and how to do things the sim lets you slide on, like weight and balance, fuel and density altitude calculations. Many of the popular ground schools go on sale from time to time.
A great book put out by the FAA will explain a lot of what you’re asking. I’m old school and prefer books to videos. I’m not talking about the FAR/AIM, which is daunting, but this one:
It’s an easy read and full of color photos and diagrams. Good luck with your training!
Flying VFR for me depends on where you fly and what equipment do you use.
Going through Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australia or North America you only need your GPS (screen) and fsxmap.com , I flew vfr for the last 2 years only using these ‘tools’.
It gets interesting when flying in remote parts of the world, Africa or Mongolia for example. Then a bit of knowledge of VOR’s and NDB’s come in handy. But even then you can do without if you have google maps, and navigate by mountains, sand dunes, rivers, dry river beds, lakes and rock formations
I know that you said that you didn’t like many videos because they are too advanced in their terminology. But, would you say that this is too high level?
I think part of the issue you may be having is that, like a friend of mine who is interested in aviation, he tries to learn all of aviation at the same time.
Cowl Flaps for instance are going to be tough to come by these days and add a complication probably unneeded when you are learning to fly. So you would probably be best served learning in something like the venerable C-152 before moving on to aircraft with more complex parts and requirements.
Check out that video. Learn to fly a simple VFR route with a high degree of accuracy in the default 152. It’s plenty challenging and rewarding in itself I can tell you.
Learn how to read a sectional:
You now have some good explanations and links to how read a VOR. Use a few on your VFR flight. Did they behave how you expected them to? They will become important when you move on up to IFR flying.
Honestly, until you can do this comfortably, you shouldn’t worry about doing anything else. Inevitably, you’ll do a lot of learning by accident.
What does this symbol mean? I better look it up. What kind of radio calls should I be making? Hmmm, maybe there’s something in the AIM.
In the end, there is actually quite a lot to flying…properly. Don’t be frustrated. It takes awhile to wade through. Start simple. Listen in to the streams as kindly offered above and you’ll be surprised by how quickly it starts to make sense!
since the fuel gauge is not a gauge on the panel but a swimmer flag directly in the tank-cap.
