GPS, VOR, Pilotage, Dead Reckoning?

gismo said:
Pilotage and to a slightly lesser extent ded reckoning, are fairly useless if you're in IMC, a condition that applies to a significant number of my cross country flights.
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I think it's important to practice very degraded mode flying under the hood from time to time (loss of all Nav signals, for example).

Maintaining a heading with only a TC and Compass ain't easy if you haven't been practicing.
 
dmccormack said:
I think it's important to practice very degraded mode flying under the hood from time to time (loss of all Nav signals, for example).

Maintaining a heading with only a TC and Compass ain't easy if you haven't been practicing.
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Nothing wrong with pushing your limits during recurrent training but IMO the total loss of all my sources of NAV and losing all gyros except the T&B in IMC (plus the lack of radar guidance) are on the order of the chances of a wing falling off, something I definitely don't care to practice. And even if I were so unlucky I'd probably just head in the general direction of VMC (which might be UP).
 
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I got my PPL just over 10 years ago in a beater rental with only basic gauges, 10 miles east of the Dallas Class B. You could flip a coin on whether or not both VOR receivers would work at the same time, and ADF INOP was always a safe bet. I learned to fly long XC's with sectionals, VOR's, and my Mark I eyeballs. Shortly after my checkride I bought a Garmin 196 handheld (back when they were new and still cost $1k) and loved it, started flying direct, but still kept following sectional maps as I went and checking VOR's in route. Old habits are hard to kill and occasionally come in handy.

About two months ago my uncle bought a C-172 up in Maine, and I flew it back to west Texas for him. It had a hard IFR panel installed, including KLN94, KMD550, and 2-axis AP. I flew the first half of that 3-day trip the way I knew how, by VOR and sectional, while I figured out the new toys in the panel. I love it now, don't get me wrong, and I fly it A LOT, but I still tune the VOR's and keep a sectional out. If the magic electrons quit moving one day, I'll be the guy with a smile on his face saying "Huh, how 'bout that?" B)
 
I use my handheld GPS for touch 'n goes!:D

If I lose track of my landing count I just zoom in real close on the track when I'm done.

Actually, I mostly use pilotage since most of my flying is within a couple hundred miles of home but, since the plane has a panel mount G430 that's used for comm1, I always have the GPS on for reference. (The handheld is only around because I bought it before joining the flying club.)
 
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