Navigation on Route

Well we left the last lecture having just crossed Midhurst VOR and climbing to Flight level 350 (35000ft with the altimeter set to 29.92 or 1013.) We need to ask ourselves now, what is the next point on the route and what time are going to get to Malaga at this speed ? What is the heading to fly to the next waypoint and what is the distance ? This is where the flight management computer and the GPS screen come into use. Push the little satellite button on the panel and the instrument will open up. You can reshape this panel so you can read it easier. . I will explain how to use the instrument, I will take you step by step through the options. See the picture below

Mode1

This is the initial view you will see. the Red 4 letters are airports on the screen the blue 3 letters are VORS. You can add NDB or Waypoints using the menu button . The interface is the panel running across the top They Are :-
MODE of which pushing takes you through 3 screens
D with the arrow in is the direct to key for a direct track
Menu which turns on and off beacons etc on the map.
Enter is very dangerous as if you set a beacon or airfield up to fly direct to on pushing this it will wipe out your whole flight plan so it must be used with care. (except in menu mode)

Arrow Keys in this mode are up and down keys only which increase and decrease the range the map shows.
Cancel is the exit button

Looking at the screen in the top left hand corner,the instrument shows the waypoint we are tracking to. In this case SAM Southampton . SAM is 16.1 miles away and the aircraft is heading 261 (in the top right it show us that we are doing a groundspeed of 277 the heading is 261 between the last waypoint and the next one is 261 degrees the white outline on the map is the South coast showing the Isle Of White in the 11 O clock position to the aircraft. At the bottom right hand corner shows the range we have the map zoomed to. I suggest 100 miles is normal for the cruise with only VORS turned on bringing the range back down as you get closer to the destination airport.
the XTK tells you how much you are on or off track. The green line is the flight plan route set up in the computer so if you stay on the Green Line and fly manually you will navigate correctly to your destination.
Of course having the autopilot turned on with the GPS switch and NAV button on the aircraft will fly it itself to destination turning at every waypoint by itself.

Let us push the mode button once and the following screen appears in photo below.

Mode2

The screen shows in the top left the next waypoint the distance to it and then heading of the aircraft the time estimated to fly to the beacon and the local time that we will be crossing over the waypoint. it also shows you the current longitude of your aircraft. On the right shows the groundspeed and the track between the last and next waypoints.

Pushing the mode button Again

Mode 3
This screen now shows the whole route we put into the route planner in Lesson 1 use the up and down arrows on the top to see the hidden waypoints at the bottom and come back up again.
it shows you all the waypoints id letters the heading to it and the distance. as you bring the green letters down it will show you at the bottom the time to that beacon and the time of arrival over that beacon. under your present long lat position is the time of arrival at Malaga and the ETA and flight time ETE at the current speed. this will change on route as we increase at the top of the climb. it is affected by winds as well

Pushing it again take you back to mode 1 again

Now lets get the Airports Taken Off the Screen

Push the Menu button

To turn different items on or off on the screen use the up and down arrow keys over the item you require use the right or left keys to toggle yes or no off and then when you have finished the selection press enter.

The display track key is useful when flying holding patterns as once you have done one good hold you can use the yellow lines to fly round and round until you get the onward clearance.

Flying Direct to and How Far is questions ?

Suppose you get a visitor up on the flight deck and they want to know how far it is from here to Malaga
You can tell them by pushing the direct to button.

What you do you use your arrow keys on the top until you can get the green highlight onto the ID line of airport. Now use the left and right keys to get the green cursor on the first letter. Then use the up and down keys to go through the letters until you got L up. Then use the right arrow until the next letter is green and repeat until you have spelt LEMG the airport name comes up along with distance heading on Long Lat to the airport. down keys if you want to fly direct to the airport press Enter Your flight plan will be wiped out and a direct track will be set and if your aircraft was in autopilot GPS mode the aircraft would turn and fly direct to Malaga it also gives the Long Lat position of Malaga

Other uses

If you did not load a flight plan you could use the GPS to fly direct to each waypoint each time. Keep entering the VORS and pressing the direct to key as you passed over the VOR put the next waypoint in and press enter.

You can after pushing enter set the next VOR up but do not push enter until passing over the last waypoint you entered.

This is a very handy tool

YOU could be at Birmingham set QUV up press enter the aircraft will fly direct to Barcelona. now set LEMG up and do not press enter go back to view mode as you cross Barcelona Vor go back to direct to made and push enter you will now turn for Malaga. you could do this to Sydney

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