This course is currently not available.

Both in the simulator, and in the real world, navigational aids are available to you so that at any time you can identify where you are located. This course will introduce you to the various navigational aids and the cockpit instruments required to use them.

What to expect.

This course was designed to teach the basics of navigation in the simulated flight environment. It will teach you the basic skills of using the instruments and acquiring the appropriate navaid information available to identify your current geographic position and how it relates to other geographic locations around you.

What NOT to expect

This course is not intended to prepare you for detailed flight planning and execution. Nor does this course address advanced flying techniques related to Instrument Flight Rules, Precision Instrument Approaches, or flying in Instrument-only weather conditions.

What is my current location?

We determine our position relative to other points. There are two main ways to do this and those are:

1) In relation to ground based stations.
2) In relation to satellite based stations.

I) With ground based navigation we can determine our position in relation to one or more specific ground station(s) (for example, NDBs & VORs). Using instruments in the cockpit, a pilot can establish that he/she is at 1500ft, 6.3 nautical miles from a particular VOR/DME on the 255 radial and as a result knows exactly where he/she is.

II) With satellite based navigation, our location can be precisely determined and our current latitude, longitude, and altitude information can be displayed on a moving map in real time. By using data which is provided by a network of satellites that circle the globe a GPS receiver can pinpoint exactly where it is located.


Before proceeding we need to understand the meaning of the abbreviations that will be used:

Glossary

ADF                                 Automatic Direction Finder
DME                                 Distance Measuring Equipment
GPS                                 Global Positioning System
HSI                                  Horizontal Situation Indicator
NDB                                 Non-Directional Radio Beacon
OBS                                 Omni Bearing Selector
TACAN                             Tactical Air Navigation
VOR                                 VHF Omni directional Range
VOR/DME                        Co-located VOR and DME equipment
VOR2 Indicator               VHF Omni directional Range second instrument
VORTAC                           VOR TACAN

ADF
The Automatic Direction Finder is a panel instrument that uses the frequency set in the ADF receiver of the radio. The ADF indicator is used to point directly towards the NDB station.

DME
Distance Measuring Equipment transmits in response to requests from the aircraft and will give you the distance to the station by determining the time between each signal. The distance from the DME is published in the radio stack. It is usually, but not always (e.g. the one at KGNU) to be found co-located with a VOR, hence the term VOR/DME.

GPS
The Global Positioning System is a network of satellites that transmit coded data that receivers can use to determine their position on earth. The receiver used in default Bell JetRanger in FS9 is the Garmin 295 (this can also be found as a freeware add-on for FS2002 from < www.avsim.com > and < www.simviation.com >.

HSI
The Horizontal Situation Indicator is a panel instrument and is uses the frequency set in the NAV1 receiver of the radio. The HSI is the primary instrument and is used to fly to a VOR station.

NDB
The Non-Directional Radio station is a simple ground based AM transmitter that uses frequencies from 190 to 1790 KHz and transmits a single frequency in all directions over a short range, up to 30 miles. It is important to remember that of this frequency range only 190 to 535 KHz is reserved for NDBs. NDBs are all given a unique reference consisting of either 2 or 3 letters.

OBS
The Omni Bearing Selector is a feature on the HSI and VOR2 Indicators which allows the pilot to select a course to fly.

TACAN - Not required for CP(INav)
The Tactical Air Navigation is similar to a VOR/DME but is used by military aircraft only and uses different signals to those used by commercial and GA aircraft.

VOR
The VHF Omni Directional Range station is a ground based VHF transmitter. A rotating directional signal is broadcast from the station while a second (omni directional) signal is broadcast only when the rotating signal passes north. The receiver in your aircraft measures the time difference in these two signals and gives you your bearing (also known as a Radial) from the station.

VOR/DME
This is a ground based station which houses both a VOR transmitter and DME.

VOR2 Indicator
The VOR2 Indicator is a panel instrument and is uses the frequency set in the NAV2 receiver of the radio. The VOR2 is the secondary instrument for navigation and, like the HSI, is used to fly to a VOR station.

VORTAC - Not required for CP(INav)
This is a ground based station which houses both a VOR and TACAN transmitter.


Radio Navigation, the overview

As the name suggests these navaids inside the cockpit take the radio signals from the ground based transmitters and pass that data to panel instruments which provide the pilot with a visual aid for navigation.

So the two components required for Radio Navigation are the standard instrument panel and the radio stack. As these are so intrinsically linked, the diagram below should clarify how the radio stack and instrument panel interact.