Navigating for Dummies? I never get to the airport with NAV LOG

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I know this is very basic - but is there a very basic guide on NAV LOG navigation anywhere? And by thatm I mean just setting up a departure and then arrival airport in the World Map - and using the built in NavMap to get me there. I always end up miles off course - often flying in entirely the opposite direction to the airport - flying right over it, and totally missing the point.

If I use Little NavMap to plot the course first, either by VFR or IFR - I can get myself around - but as far as the built in NAV LOG - unless I know where Iā€™m going in the first place, I get totally lost. And I certainly donā€™t end up lined up with the runway - or know when to start my descent.

Although the descent thing is another issue I have - Iā€™ve no idea when Iā€™m mean to drop to 65 knots in the 152 in order to glide in to the aiport. 3 miles out? 4 / 5 ?

Iā€™ve been through the basic training, and it all made sense. But it seems when Iā€™m left to my own though process - I suck. So is there any resource out there that I can watch or read?

Thanks,
John

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Learning how to fly is all about training, training and more training.

Iā€™m fairly seasoned and I still purchased FS Academy training systems.

I completed VFR, IFR and am in the process of the airliner mission packs.

Though not perfect, I do recommend:

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My humble advice to you will be to start practicing circuits and landings at your local airport first preferably in a C152 with steam gauges, that will give you an idea of how to follow an imaginary path find the airport and then line up with the runway and finally land.
Navigation is slightly advanced stuff, but once you learn the basics of flying the aircraft like straight and level, making climbing turns, controlling the rate of descent with power adjustment on approach, slowing the aircraft with appropriate use of flaps and never landing with a tail wind you should be great! :grin:

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It depends at what altitude you are currently flying.

For example:

Imagine you are flying at 6.500 feet and your airport elevation is 500 feet, then your pattern altitude normally would be 1500 feet.

This means you need to lose 5000 feet when entering the pattern.

As a rule of thumb you may do the following math.
Multiply this 5000 by 3. This makes 15000.
Drop those three zeroes and this tells that you can start descending 15 miles out of your arrival airport.
At a descent rate of approximately 500 feet per minute.

Like you Iā€™m also larning and this is the way I calculate my top of descents when flying GA.

Hope this helps

Happy landingsšŸ˜‰

Cheers Mark

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The NavLog shows waypoints used along your flight path. the compass heading, distance and time to them.
01 You takeoff on the TIMECLIMB heading and fly the listed Distance/Time. You can use the stopwatch.
Turn to waypoint 02 heading. Note Distance/Time. Use stopwatch.

If after takeoff you get disoriented. Fly over center of runway then head towards the Nav Point after TIMECLIMB for approx direction. Start stopwatch. Note ETE
Reference in-flight VFR map.

The first Bush Trips I tried reinforce using NavLog.

The distance to your turn to final approach is determined by you and what you are comfortable with and considering the current air/weather conditions

As you gain experience landing pattern is usually 1 mile out at 1,000 feet.

Also:
In Settings/Assistant Options, you can turn on Navigation Aid visualizations to facilitate Nav, landing patterns, glideslope. You can turn on Point of Interest markers.

also:
If you open the World Map filters you can make Airspaces, nav points, Fix points and ILS visible on the World Map.
After setting departure and arrival you can click on waypoints to add them to your flight plan.
You can also click anywhere on the map as you near your destination to add a point in front of the runway you want.
All the nav points you select will now be a part of the Nav Log
Open the in-flight VFR map to see waypoints and flight plan.

other:
On the World Map.
Write down the Frequencies of the VOR/NDB stations along and around your flight path.
Use your Nav Radios and corresponding instruments

Use Skyvector to find landmarks and elevations along your path.

If you do not get frequencies before taking off, you can use Skyvector.com (free) to click on VOR and NDB to get them.

SKyvector has all the waypoints that exist in MSFS.

Skyvector also has the PDF info pages and charts for all North American airports. The charts will show you airport information, runway information, Landing pattern procedures, departure and arrival procedures. etc.

Video Topics:
Airspace Classes
Airport Information pages runway diagrams
Fuel Mixture/ Leaning an engine
Reading VFR Maps
VOR/NDB Radio Navigation
Using ATIS - The Altimeter
METARs
The Landing Pattern
Reading Airport Information and Runway
Reading SIDS and STAR charts
Listening to VOR and Boundry Marker Beacons

Get a plane w a Garmin.
Use Autopilot for VOR & GPS NAV. Using the CDI button.

Get the ILS frequencies of the runway you want.
Watch videos on doing an autopilot ILS landing.

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Wow. Thanks everyone for such incredible advice.

Iā€™ll start with the flying straight and level - and then when Iā€™m happy Iā€™m happy with controls (Iā€™m not bad, but a bit thumpy with my landings), Iā€™ll start worrying about navigating - and will follow all of the suggestions and links on here.

Thanks so much. I really appreciate the help. As someone who always tries to share my knowledge about things - itā€™s great to see the same happens here.

If you ever want to know about indoor rowingā€¦ :smile:

John.

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Wow I never knew the above Ive been doing it so long it just comes natural I guess. But now Ive learned something new today, I am fulfilled.

Thank you. :slightly_smiling_face:

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My pleasure!!

If you are interested..
here I found a more in depth explanation on planning your arrival.

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/instrument_procedures_handbook/media/FAA-H-8083-16B_Chapter_3.pdf

Cheers Mark

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Thanks. The flying part, Iā€™m getting to grips with. Watching a lot of Squirrelā€™s YouTube videos helped with the whole trim/flying level thing, and that altitude is linked to engine speed, not pulling up and down!

Navigation - thatā€™ll take time. Iā€™ll take a look at your eBook. Thanks again!!

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Little Nav Map is a gem. One of the things you can do with it is pretend as if you have a folded sectional (aeronautical map) in your lap and are constantly cross-referencing it with what you see outside the cockpit. This is literally old-fashioned VFR, and itā€™s about as real as it gets from a basic perspective.

Setting aside all the symbology you see on LNM (which eventually you should become familiar with to simulate piloting), it does provide a topology view - roads, major intersections, dwellings, building clusters, natural landmarks such as lakes, forests and elevations (hills, mountains, ridges). So what you see looking down at the map, you can draw a comparison to what you see out the window. Granted, thereā€™s a bit of convenience because LNM defaults to a moving map display.

Hereā€™s a simple challenge. From the nearest airport to your house, fly towards your house. If this route is familiar to you, you will immediately recognize from leaving the airport - hey thereā€™s Interstate 99, I follow it down until I see the big shopping plaza thatā€™s my exit, take a left, look for the school, take a right, look for the home development complex that my house is in. Then reverse your course. Following roads and landmarks is a time-honored and actual method of navigation in the early days of general and commercial aviation.

Eventually you can get sophisticated and just go by landmarks, magnetic bearings to/from and ground speed - i.e., if I pass over the harbor and then head East 090 degrees and my ground speed is 60 mph, in about ten minutes I should see Bridge X because itā€™s roughly six miles due East from the harbor.

Lots of ways to do it, and itā€™s often a lot more rewarding than becoming a Child of the Magenta Line (GPS user) - and yes, I am old enough to straddle both the steam gauge and glass office generations. :slight_smile:

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Actually once your trimmed you can pull up push down to gain lose altitude. Once you get to your desired height, level out wait for the original trimmed speed to come back, let go of the stick and you will remain trimmedā€¦Do it all the time.

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If you like, I could make a practice flight plan for LNM for you. I started with that and learned to navigate very quickly. Parts of it would be visual navigation but also partial routes over VORs. Perfect for the C152. I can also include short descriptions of how to fly each leg.

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A lot of people and many pilots think the throttle controls the speed and the stick controls the altitude when as you have discovered it is the other way round.

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To be honest, itā€™s not LNM that Iā€™m having issues with - if I setup a flight plan with that, Iā€™m pretty much spot on with it. But then Iā€™m probably cheating by constantly looking at the map and the plane vs theh line.

Itā€™s using the turn co-ordinates and flying time that leaves me totally in the wrong place. Plane set to 104kts - fly north for 9 minutes - and I should be at X - whereas Iā€™m in a completely different spot.

Iā€™m sure itā€™s just practise - and maybe flying using LNMā€™s map will help me figure this out - but Iā€™m sure thereā€™s just something Iā€™m missing hereā€¦

John

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Thatā€™s why I offered it. Setting up a plan is not hard, but when you plan it after the ā€žrulesā€œ you should be able to easily follow it. (Donā€™t use auto-plan).

Speaking of the default bush trips. Those times are often not correct and for the correct heading you have to take winds into account (heading vs. track).

If you want to do it old-fashioned: set up a plan yourself. Take note of the route and maybe VOR frequencies you want to use. Then load into the simulator without a flightplan and follow your notes. Every few minutes have a peak into LNM and crosscheck where you are and how far you are off course. By this time you should be that close to the route to figure out what and when things went wrong.

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Sorry, I totally forgot to add ā€œThanks, and pleaseā€ to my reply. I was too worried about continuing to moan about my short-fall that I forgot to actually take you up on your offer!! It would likely help a lot to see a flight plan by someone who knows what theyā€™re doing, rather than the nonsense I churn out after all!!!

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Best thing you can do is spend some time mastering a basic airplane like the 152/172. What are the throttle settings to achieve level flight? Do you understand how to manually trim out the aircraft at a given speed? Google - whoops, I meant Bing - ariticles on controlling descent rate. Practice until you know exactly how to set up a -500 fpm descent.

Hereā€™s a good article by BoldMethod: Pitch For Airspeed, Power For Glideslope? Or The Other Way Around? | Boldmethod

Gotta know the capabilities and numbers for your aircraft! Once you do, it will soon become second nature.

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Thanks. The main ā€˜meatā€™ of flying the 152 Iā€™m getting to proper grips with. Lots of time watching Squirrel videos on YouTube prepared me for that. But yes, more and more time flying it will grind that in better and better.

And hopefully time spend learning the aircraft better will help too, but I still need to know where I am in the world to be able to know how far from the airport I am etc to be able to get the descent right - and hopefully thatā€™s what a lot of the folks on here have guided towards improving.

Thanks!
John

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Hi John,

You can also try to navigate using google maps along side you on a tablet or phone.
This is what I did in the past too.

By the way, hoe are things going at the moment? Are you gaining any progress?

Cheers
Mark

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Thanks Mark. Very kind of you to ask.

The advice on here, and help from Frank have helped me get to grips with navigation from a VFR point of view when I have information to follow.

So if itā€™s things like ā€œlook for the road, follow the fork; head for the river, turn after the village etc with turn headings - Iā€™m a lot happier.

In fact, Iā€™m on leg 12 of the Balkanā€™s Bush Trip and havenā€™t missed a stop (yet!)

If I were just given headings and times, I may struggle a bit more. But I think thatā€™s more about practise abs accounting for speed discrepancies.

Iā€™m still a bit lost on precise landing procedures for the VFR flights. Especially on the bush trips, I donā€™t know how far from the airport I am - so even if I were to allow 1.5 miles per 1000ft of height; how do I know when to start?

So I just gauge by eye - which has worked ok so far, but judging by the thumping bounce as I land most of the time, Iā€™m descending too fast and/or at too high a speed because Iā€™m not gliding in at a steady 3 degrees.

But Iā€™ll get there. Iā€™m learning loads with each flight. I guess I should set up a landing only session and practise how far it looks to land from 3000ft at a 3 degree descent.

Anyway, thanks again.

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