Do I need to do a PT in this case?

[RussR]

I've been around here long enough to know I might get a pummeling just for asking the question. I still appreciate all the comments. I learn something from all of them.

I don't think this is a pummeling at all. I think it's a very reasonable, everyday question that is muddied in many people's minds by the prevalence of GPS and its positional certainty.

Yeah more than you want to know right? Seems like one can't a simple and correct answer here without people going off in crazy directions.

The OP's question was correctly answered in post #2. The rest has been (to me) an interesting discussion.

 

[MauleSkinner]

The question "when do we need to do a PT" has been around forever. But the inability to know how far you are from the VOR, without GPS (or DME), more easily answered the question of "why". Coming from the enroute environment, if you don't know how far you are from the VOR, you don't know when you're within 10 nm, so that's a more simple explanation of why you have to first fly over the VOR and do the PT.

Yes, before GPS some people had DME or other equipment to give them this information. But now, virtually every student I teach has an IFR GPS in their airplane. Which means the "why" question is a whole lot more common, AND harder to answer satisfactorily.

Even with a single VOR I knew how far I was from the station...there are plenty of ways to answer that question. See the written test questions that everybody complains about. Truth be told, I probably had better positional awareness before GPS came along.

I'd still say reading some of Wally's articles would make the answer pretty easy.

 

[aterpster]

I'd still say reading some of Wally's articles would make the answer pretty easy.

Some of those articles are a bit dated, but not the one on this subject:

http://terps.com/ifrr/jul96.pdf

 

[MauleSkinner]

Some of those articles are a bit dated, but not the one on this subject:

http://terps.com/ifrr/jul96.pdf

Thanks, Wally!