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Cross Country Navigation Normal Routine Having done all your preflight preparations ,fuelled the aircraft with enough fuel for the flight, (plus hold and diversion fuel allowed) you are now ready for the flight. A Student Pilot must not use radio navigation until passing his test. You therefore should have a written flight log with all your headings( corrected for wind and distances) and time on. This having been worked out from Air Charts. The pilot should note the minimum safe height he can fly at for the whole route. The safe height is always at least 1000 ft above the highest obstacle in a five radius of the route. But you are not allowed in controlled airspace you may have to divert around somewhere if it would put you into a breach. All your radio frequencies for airfields and danger and special rules areas should be written down.and noted. Add Safety height for the route and check the location and height of controlled airspace. Because you are not allowed to fly using radio beacons, it is important you fly an accurate heading for the whole flight and you use a stop watch to time it. Maintain your correct airspeed is essential. On take off you would either:- Fly around the airfield climbing up out of the
circuit height and then back over the runway. and set your stop
watch Immediately on take off when clear of obstructions and safe to do so turn direct to the destination. Start your stop watch and note down the times. Then work out the time you should arrive over the destination airfield or waypoint.. It is embarrassing and dangerous to land at the wrong airfield especially when the Air Traffic Controller is not expecting you. Making him knock his coffee over in shock is a serious violation. As you leave the Airfield Traffic Zone you must notify the controller in the tower. On route if you are following a road railway or river you should always stay to the right of it. This will prevent the pilot who is flying the opposite way to you from running head on into you. He will be doing the same. If you
meet another aircraft at the same height flying towards you. Both pilots turn
right and pass each other on the left hand side. If you are flying faster than
another aircraft in front of you, you must overtake on his right and
he has right of way. Bear in mind he cannot see you and may turn right you have responsibility
to avoid him. If an aircraft is flying from right to left in front of you he has
right of way alter course and pass behind it. Contact
all aerodromes on route for clearance in good time if you are going to transit
through their traffic zones. (At least 10 minutes before the zone boundary.)
Remember an aerodrome traffic zone is 2 miles radius
and 2000ft high.) Do not enter Special Rules Areas or Control Zones without permission. Fuel Radio Engine Temps Pressures etc check the vacuum gauge is working. DI and Compass are set and aligned Altimeter set correct Pressure and you are not below safety height.
Normally on arriving at the destination airfield, you would fly at 2000ft above the airfield to the dead side of the circuit looking at the signals area by the Tower . You would then descend to circuit height normally 1000ft above the airfield. This is done on the non active side of the circuit on the the dead side. You will have to know your airfield elevation here and add 1000ft this then is your circuit height. you then join the circuit on the crosswind leg. Example Heathrow is 80 ft your circuit height will be 80+1000= 1080ft. Your overflight height is 2080 ft If the airfield is not busy the Air Traffic Controller may tell you join downwind, base leg, or cleared straight in for landing. At 8 Miles to touchdown ,you will call when established on the approach centre line Long Final. On getting to 4 miles you will call final in this case. Military low flying takes place between 250 and 1000 ft in some areas so it is advisable to fly above this height. Check Notams before Flight for Royal Flights or the Red Arrows or Frecce Tricolori movements as well. Do not fly over an air display you did not know was on. MIG 29s are hard to keep up with in a Cessna. Another
rule is a pilot of a single engine aircraft must not fly over large built up
area in which he cannot alight clear of in the event of an engine failure. Therefore
downtown London, New York ,Munich etc are forbidden. Another rule is an aircraft must not fly less than 1500ft above the highest object in a congested area within 600 metres of the aircraft . Nor must it fly within 500ft anywhere else of persons except on take off landing or emergency. You are now almost a pilot having only got the navigation to do for flight sim purposes try and remember these rules to get more out of your hobby. Practice navigating to airfields using only headings you have worked out and the stop watch. Do not use radio navigation . Join correctly overhead the airfield and descend in the circuit once you can do that you have achieved your first goal. We can then train you up to use the instruments more effective and become a round the world pilot. All pilots learn the basics first.
Remember you also are not permitted to fly over a large person gathering. Sorry that includes football grounds, baseball games etc. (Except in flight sim no one will know.) The moth goes round the candle at the Statue of Liberty and Wembley Stadium and no flying through Tower Bridge. We hope that has given you some ideas and tips for your Flight Simulator Flights.
For flight sim purposes you could use the GPS to work out a distance heading and time. time by just entering departure and destination airfields. But then turn it off and do not use it to navigate. Each airport has a four letter identity ICAO. For example EGLL is London Heathrow. There are some excellent third party navigation programs on the internet. The best one I have found is FS Navigator. This is for Flight Simulator 98 and 2000. To practice Basic Navigation Take off and fly the accurate heading for the time you have worked out at a speed of 110 knots. If you have done it correctly then the airfield should appear at the given time. Join the circuit and land. The Cessna Cruise speed of 110 knots would be a good speed. If you use wind you may have to fly at an airspeed faster or slower depending which direction the wind is blowing. The idea is so the ground speed is 110 knots. Rule of Thumb Groundspeed 110 knots 110 miles =1 hour 55 miles = 30 mins 27 miles = 15 mins 13 miles = 7.5 minutes. 6 miles = 3 mins approx From this you can work out your distance and time between two airfields or waypoints. If you have more than one waypoint as you pass the intermediate waypoints enter the time on the pilot log and the estimate for the next waypoint. (Worked out on the rule of thumb above.) The most accurate way if you have a spread sheet program is to draw a graph chart.
The next lesson will be the Emergency and Irregular Items on route.
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