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  #11  
Old 10-29-2011, 07:44 PM
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Bill Wightman Bill Wightman is offline
 
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Pierre, yet another great tip from a Master aviator! That one could some day come in handy if out in somewhat reduced vis, or stuck down low under a solid deck.

Thanks much!
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  #12  
Old 10-29-2011, 09:03 PM
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Casey Stewart Casey Stewart is offline
 
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Thats the fun way to fly in my opinion. I have always loved looking at a map and figuring out where we are and where we are going. Being right seater for my dad, I do this a lot.

We flew the Grand Canyon flight corridors this summer. They are very specific locations and altitudes. We had the sectional with lat/lon coordinates on it that my dad kept trying to put in the GPS. I told him to forget the GPS, I would get us through. It was a blast looking for landmarks in the grand canyon. It kept our eyes outside and I enjoyed navigating that way. We were flying IFTBD (I follow the big ditch)
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  #13  
Old 10-29-2011, 09:34 PM
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L.Adamson L.Adamson is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Stewart View Post
Thats the fun way to fly in my opinion. I have always loved looking at a map and figuring out where we are and where we are going. Being right seater for my dad, I do this a lot.

We flew the Grand Canyon flight corridors this summer. They are very specific locations and altitudes. We had the sectional with lat/lon coordinates on it that my dad kept trying to put in the GPS. I told him to forget the GPS, I would get us through. It was a blast looking for landmarks in the grand canyon. It kept our eyes outside and I enjoyed navigating that way. We were flying IFTBD (I follow the big ditch)
I look at it a different way. I fly mountains a lot, which includes the Grand Canyon area at the south, and Idaho, Montana to the north. I usually pre-plan longer cross-countries on a sectional. Then I'll input that plan into the Garmin 696 GPS. I like using an on-line flight planner before flight, to get an idea of winds & fuel usage. Then during the flight, I'll make fuel comparisons with my fuel totalizer, which is also getting inputs from the GPS.

Since I'm the one that has to fly, I also like looking down, and not having to worry about exact landmarks, as with the Grand Canyon corridors. No one else is helping find the land marks from the Grand Canyon sectional, because they prefer to look out the canopy too. Therefor, if all this info is already loaded into the GPS, I can now fly with precision in regards to the flight path, as well as looking at Mother Natures best.

And then of course, thanks to the GPS and XM Satellite weather, I have constant weather/ winds/ altimeter setting ...updates as well as popup TFR's on the two to three hour flight home. I "never" turn off the GPS.

L.Adamson
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  #14  
Old 11-01-2011, 04:56 PM
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speyers speyers is offline
 
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Default No GPS

I love turning off the GPS and using DR and Pilotage. Great way to see the country, especially down low. Guessing at heading, wind correction angle, and then throwing it all out the window when you see something on the ground that merits circling over are all little pleasures of life. High wings are better for that... but with an RV all it takes is rolling inverted and then the wing is on top.
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  #15  
Old 11-02-2011, 04:55 AM
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pierre smith pierre smith is offline
 
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Default I agree.

I've been on this airport since 1971, working for a spray operation/Cessna Ag aircraft dealer first, then my own business a few years later.

I've seen guys going to California in J-3's, Ercoupes and Stearmans, with a stack of Sectionals and as I often did, road maps! We'd talk at the gas pumps and hear unbelievable stories, like, "Man I just flew 200 miles under a 500' overcast, but boy, did these road maps save the day!"....and so on, from a Cub driver, and, "Did you know, if you fly low, you can read the signs on the freeway to tell how many miles to Atlanta?"

The Stearman guy had two copies of each sectional,...."They get sucked out if I'm not careful, same as in my Pitts!"

Now, with the iPad, it gets easier!

Best,
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  #16  
Old 11-02-2011, 08:47 AM
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Our technology has certainly spoiled us. Moving maps, fuel computers, wind vectors, terrain alarms, so much information at hand and you don't need to think about it.

I had the occasion to fly my Bucker down to Southern California this summer, a full days journey in that airplane. I decided I would hide away the portable 296, get out the charts, and brush off the rust in my brain.

Reading charts in an open cockpit has its own challenges but the biggest challenge I had was adjusting myself back to a reference of scale. I had one heck of a time orienting myself and landmarks on the map. It took me quite some time to get used to the scale. With our electronics, we adjust our scale to what suits us, zooming in or out, scrolling up or down. Sectionals give you one scale. Once I adjusted to that, things came back naturally.

I recommend everyone pull out a sectional from time to time just to keep their brain engaged. By the way, I was surprised how quickly the whiz wheel skills came back. I was able to get a peek at the 296 every once in a while just to confirm my calculations.

It was fun and challenging.
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  #17  
Old 11-02-2011, 01:15 PM
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flyboy1963 flyboy1963 is offline
 
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Default how fast is your finger???

Even out here, where airports can be few and far between...my biggest problem 'following the line' on a sectional is that by the time I see a landmark, find it on the cluttered mess of a sectional, and read the elevation of a tower or airfield....I'm over it! ( dang 150 kt. RV!) Cr@p...I also need to lose 4000' - ---now!
My brain & finger that used to operate just fine..... at C152 speeds..... now barely keeps up at J-3 speeds. ( perhaps there's an LSA in my future eh?)
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  #18  
Old 11-02-2011, 01:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pierre smith View Post
....., "Man I just flew 200 miles under a 500' overcast, but boy, did these road maps save the day!"....and so on, from a Cub driver, and, "Did you know, if you fly low, you can read the signs on the freeway to tell how many miles to Atlanta?"
....
When I was a solo student pilot in Michigan in the early 70's (before GPS for you youngsters......) I did the sign experiment myself in a C-150.

The towns in Michigan sometimes all looked the same strung out along a main road. I discovered that at 1000 ft AGL it was very easy to read the town names on the water towers, and that 500 ft was good to read the freeway signs...

Now I bet those same routes are full of cell phone and TV towers...

PS Even with GPS I still buy sectionals - it took a dozen for my May trip to Georgia.
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Last edited by az_gila : 11-02-2011 at 01:48 PM.
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  #19  
Old 11-02-2011, 06:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gerrychuck View Post
Here on the Canadian prairies, you used to be able to figure out where you were when "temporarily unsure of position" by reading the town names on the sides of the grain elevators that every community had.
Reminds me of a cartoon - A couple of guys in an airplane circling a grain elevator, map spread across the windshield, and the navigator saying "I can't fine Pool, Saskatchewan anywhere on this map!". If you have never heard of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool you wouldn't get the joke

I learned to fly in the BC mountains, and navigation was by the shape of the lakes, valleys, and height of the mountain peaks. The first time I flew on the prairies I would have gotten lost without the VOR, I was not familiar with using roads and railroads as my guide. It was vice versa for my buddy who learned to fly on the prairie. I still think flying in the mountains is easier from a navigation perspective. All about what what a person considers "normal".
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  #20  
Old 11-02-2011, 06:38 PM
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Sparky Sparky is offline
 
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I learned to fly in central Minnesota. It's almost impossible to get lost if you've got a sectional or a road map... just check the shapes of the lakes around you.

But... Flying at night when the wind is calm is very disorientating as all the lakes reflect the stars so well it's hard to tell up from down.
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Last edited by Sparky : 11-02-2011 at 06:57 PM.
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