pilotage and Foreflight to pass the time on an airliner

NoHeat

NoHeat

Final Approach
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When I fly as a passenger on an airline, I enjoy looking out the window and tracking our flight's progress using just pilotage and ForeFlight. Nothing else, other than knowing the destination. I look for rivers, cities, airports, lakes and so forth to track our progress, and when the plane turns I try to find a waypoint or VOR. I adjust the route as we go by rubberbanding.

It passes the time nicely.

Today I sat in a window seat from LAX to DFW, and that was a challenge for pilotage, with stretches lacking any manmade features or bodies of water, but in the end I think I got the route accurate to within a few miles the whole way.

Anybody else do this?
 
Sure. It's pretty easy out west. Where it's really hard is over Kansas (or is that. Nebraska or Missouri?) with an intermittent undercast. It's a challenge to find yourself based on road patterns after seeing nothing for 30 minutes.
 
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Not really. If I'm flying commercial, I can fall asleep before the safety briefing is finished.
 
Makes it easier if you leave the GPS on.
 
I regularly follow along. I can do pretty well on the east coast even if I've not been paying attention a while. I've found that spotting runways makes matching up with the charting a bit easier.

For the longest time I was a regular commuter on Unted's "geek flight" (IAD <-> SJC). I got to the point where I could tell you where we were in the flight by just looking out the window.
 
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I have followed along with my 496 in pre-iPad days.

I avoid commercial airline travel like the plague - last was in 2010 to Europe for a motorcycle tour we won.

Anyway, it was cool following along as we flew over Prince Edward Island as the sun was about to set and I could spot the bridge to it I had gone across on a motorcycle trip just a few year prior. Gorgeous!
 
For whatever reason, my iPad has not been able to work while riding in the back. I just get the no fix message.
 
Unit74 said:
For whatever reason, my iPad has not been able to work while riding in the back. I just get the no fix message.
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I find it works (sometimes) when you are in a window seat. Be sure to mute it, though, or it outs you when the voice says "APPROACHING RUNWAY ONE THREE RIGHT."

Very difficult to keep a signal after takeoff.
 
I will sometimes go to FlightAware and grab the flights filed route to load into Foreflight. I try to keep a gps signal and watch the plane follow the line. It would probably make the pilotage game too easy, though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Well, I can certainly believe that many would like to use the gps, but that isn't what the thread's about.

It's about passing the time by doing something more challenging.
 
NoHeat said:
When I fly as a passenger on an airline, I enjoy looking out the window and tracking our flight's progress using just pilotage and ForeFlight. Nothing else, other than knowing the destination. I look for rivers, cities, airports, lakes and so forth to track our progress, and when the plane turns I try to find a waypoint or VOR. I adjust the route as we go by rubberbanding.

It passes the time nicely.

Today I sat in a window seat from LAX to DFW, and that was a challenge for pilotage, with stretches lacking any manmade features or bodies of water, but in the end I think I got the route accurate to within a few miles the whole way.

Anybody else do this?
Click to expand...
I used to do this back in pre-GPS days when I was doing pilotage in gliders. Yes, the east is easier than the west with comparable visibility. It's all pretty easy at cruise with horizon to horizon visibility - there's almost always a recognizable landmark when you see that much.

The difficult part was when down low maneuvering for approach, especially when you can only see out one side.

Post GPS I kind of stopped doing it but enjoyed trying to pick up town shapes at night in the SE US. Very challenging.

Got a kick on one of my first flight out of KRDU after we bought a lot on 8NC8. We took off and I got a grand tour of the area on climbout including our new home. That was 20 years ago. Now I know the same territory like the back of my hand.
 
I track our flight path with Foreflight as much I can without a External GPS connect to my Iphone. I think I loose signal about 5000msl though.

Anyway I want to bring this on board and set it on the drop down tray in front of me and pretend I'm hand flying the airplane.

Can I log hours in my log book as 3rd Pilot in command? Will it go towards CPL. :dunno:
 

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evapilotaz said:
Can I log hours in my log book as 3rd Pilot in command? Will it go towards CPL. :dunno:
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Only if you make airplane noises while pretending to fly along (and if your fellow pax don't kill you - if they kill you then you can't log it :D ).
 
Clark1961 said:
Only if you make airplane noises while pretending to fly along (and if your fellow pax don't kill you - if they kill you then you can't log it :D ).
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Ok since I'm only rated Single engine prop I cannot make Turbine motor noise. I have to simulate single engine piston noises. :yes:

or I can bring a CFI with me on board that is rated in Type and log it as dual instruction. :yes:
 
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I try that with my Nexus, but the GPS never seems to be able to get a signal once we start moving. But yeah, I'll pull up the sectionals on GarminPilot once in a while when there is a large enough landmark to make out from the flight levels.
 
Since the TSA takeover, I log all my commercial flight time in green ink ...
 
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