DME arcs - why the bad rap?

[flyingcheesehead]

I said, "Magenta lines kill pilots."

...

I'm not against them and never speak against the tools.

Umm... Yes you do. Right there.

Magenta lines don't kill pilots. Pilots kill pilots. Magenta lines kill threads.

 

[KennyFlys]

But, I was hardly ever allowed to use them while working on my IR, and I think that forced me to develop a better sense of situational awareness. And my CFII would not let me just get vectored around, he'd make me tell him where I was, at any and all times. You can keep that mental picture very easily while getting vectored by using a single VOR and DME, or even fairly easily using two VOR's.

And, that works wonderfully. It's much easier than many think. The DPE who did my CFI initial ride said something to me I'll never forget....

"I've been using moving maps for thirty-five years. As I fly, my finger moves along the course on my map."

It works!

Without that skill, one is going to get lost a lot easier. One of the things I've done in the sim with students is place them somewhere within thirty miles of a single VOR with all others disabled. They have to identify it, determine their location then use it to fly to an airport. They get a single Nav receiver with no DME nor GPS. I don't make fuel an issue during that exercise but do explain how fuel management plays into such a scenario.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Umm... Yes you do. Right there.

Magenta lines don't kill pilots. Pilots kill pilots. Magenta lines kill threads.

It was before the Internet, but I'm sure somewhere there was a discussion, perhaps even an editorial or letter to the editor, about how "bearings kill pilots" and that pilots should simply not be allowed to use their newfangled ADF without a solid grounding in radio range navigation.

And even before writing existed, there was probably some discussion about "wheels kill people."

 

[Everskyward]

He's from New Mexico and will be making trips to Austin every week the next year.

There's the reason he's not proficient. He's from New Mexico which doesn't get a whole lot of flyable IFR weather for small airplanes so he hasn't had the need to practice. Good weather kills pilots!

 

[midlifeflyer]

btw, DME arcs probably get a bad rap because in some parts of the country they are very uncommon, a bunch of pilots get out of training without ever doing one, and many CFIs teach them in a way that is far more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[nddons]

Wow, major thread creap! However, interesting nontheless. Thanks Mark for bringing it back to the original topic.

But I'll make it creap again: On Saturday morning I did the ILS for RWY 19R at Milwaukee's Mitchell Int'l. Winds were 250 @ 15G25, so the airliners were using 25L. It was very cool doing my first approach into a large Class C, and approach/tower/departure were all pretty cool to accomodate a training approach. It's nice to see how it works in the real world.

On the way back we also had a little fun. Winds at altitude were 270 @ 50+, so we set up for slow flight in the hopes of being able to hover. I was able to get it down to 5 kts groundspeed! There was some turbulence and wind sheer @ 2,000 AGL, so if it had been smooth, I might have been able to get to zero. Still, a great day under the hood.

 

[KennyFlys]

There's the reason he's not proficient. He's from New Mexico which doesn't get a whole lot of flyable IFR weather for small airplanes so he hasn't had the need to practice. Good weather kills pilots!

Smart butt!

 

[KennyFlys]

btw, DME arcs probably get a bad rap because in some parts of the country they are very uncommon, a bunch of pilots get out of training without ever doing one, and many CFIs teach them in a way that is far more complicated than it needs to be.

Heck, how do you make it more complicated than "Twist ten, turn ten."? The biggest reason I take it that far is knowing where you are along the arc be the arc only 30 degrees or 90 and beyond along with it being 7 DME or maybe as much as 35 DME.