Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (
More info?)
Thanks Randy, for your detailed response. It helped I think, I got some
things freshed up. I don´t know wether you have read the lesson by Rod
Machado, but I think the problem there seems to be, if you are located North
of the VOR....it´s like he just wants a course to track, any selected
course. Let´s say I want to approach the VOR station from a 360 degree
radial, but I´m actually already located North of the VOR..then I can fly
for ever, and never reach the station...
He doesn´t mention what to do in a situation like that, where I actually
have to fly a reversed radial of 180...right??
English is not my first language, and I might have misunderstood something
in the VOR navigation lesson of Rod Machado, but the way I´m seeing it,
something is missing in the way he is explaining it..
Thanks
"RandyL" <rlink"nospam"@cableone.net> skrev i en meddelelse
news:118lftqcurdgefb@corp.supernews.com...
> Erik,
> There are two small indicators inside the VOR indicator dial that look
> like pointers--one pointing up "^" and one pointing down "V". These little
> indicator are very easy to overlook, but are essential in understanding
> VOR navigation. The "^" indicator is called "TO" indicator, and points
> towards the center of the dial. The "V" indicator is called the "FROM"
> indicator, and points towards the edge of the dial. You said "....and I
> can´t always know in advance, where I am, in relation to the VOR, or can
> I??. " You certainly can if you use the TO and FROM indicators in
> conjunction with your OBS (Omini Bearing Selector) and CDI (Course
> Deviation Indicator). Here are two examples:
> 1) To determine your current location in relation to the VOR station,
> then after tuning and identifying a VOR station, turn the course selector
> (OBS) knob until the CDI needle centers with a FROM ("V") indication and
> read the radial next to the course index at the top of the dial. Remember,
> this will only tell you what your current postion is FROM the VOR station.
> Or stated more simply, where your aircraft is in relation to the VOR
> station. If your course index is indicating a heading of 334 degrees, this
> means that you are northwest of the VOR station. It won't tell you how far
> away you are from the VOR station though, unless your aircraft is equipped
> with Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), and the VOR station is designed
> to broadcast DME information as well as radial information.
> 2) To determine your course TO a VOR station, turn the OBS knob until
> the CDI needle centers with a TO indication ("^"). This will tell you what
> heading you must fly to track the radial towards the VOR station. For
> instance, if you turn the OBS knob until the needle is centered with a TO
> indication, and the course index at the top of the dial reads "090", then
> to track that particular radial towards the VOR station, you need to turn
> the aircraft until it is flying a heading of 090 degrees (easier said than
> done!). Something to remember is that VOR radials are in degrees MAGNETIC,
> so if you are using your gyrocompass to determine the magnetic heading
> that your aircraft is flying, be sure to align the gyrocompass with the
> magnetic compass first so you will get an accurate reading. Also remember
> that you may have wind that is trying to blow you off of your magnetic
> heading, so it is not at all unusual to actually have to fly a heading
> that is slightly different from what course index indicates, in order to
> keep the CDI needle centered. The CDI may indicate a heading of 090
> degrees, but you may find that you have to maintain an indicated heading
> of 112 degrees in order to keep the CDI needle centered, simply because
> you are flying in a crosswind.
> In the first example, you are simply finding out where you currently
> are in relation to the VOR station. In the second example, you are
> actually trying to track a radial towards the VOR station.
> In real life there is a zone right directly above a VOR station called
> "the zone of confusion" where your VOR receiver will lose the signal of
> the station that you are tracking. I'm not sure is this "zone of
> confusion" is modeled in flight simulator or not.
> Lastly, your CDI will actually center on two headings when you turn the
> OBS knob. These two radials are exactly 180 degrees apart. It will center
> once when you select the radial that leads you directly to the station,
> and once when you select the heading that leads you directly away from the
> station. For instance, if you are flying a heading of 270 degrees
> magnetic, and you are due east of the VOR station, then the CDI needle
> will center when it reaches 090 degrees, and also when it reaches 270
> degrees. If you intend to track the radial to the station, it is very
> important that you select the correct radial. You should select the radial
> that most closely aligns with the direction that you are currently flying,
> or all of the CDI course deviation indications will indicate just the
> reverse of what you really need to do. This is called "reverse sensing".
> If you are due east of the VOR station, flying a heading of 270 degrees,
> then you want to select the 270 radial to track. If instead you select the
> 090 radial you could still track that radial, but if you begin to deviate
> from your course and the CDI needle indicates that you are to the left of
> the radial, then in reality you are really to the right of the radial. The
> CDI is now reverse sensing the radial. If you do not realize that you have
> selected the wrong radial, and are in fact reverse sensing, then all of
> the course adjustments that you make to get centered back on the correct
> radial will only cause you to get farther and farther away from that
> radial. It's not really the "wrong" radial, but is simply the radial that
> will cause the CDI to reverse its course deviation indications. You could
> still use this radial to navigate with, as long as you are aware of the
> reverse sensing of the CDI.
> I hope this wasn't too confusing. Believe me, it's a lot easier to do
> VOR navigation than it is to try to type out or explain. I hope this
> helps...
>
> Randy L.
>
> "Erik Selde" <erik.selde@mail.dk> wrote in message
> news:428a37b7$0$50689$edfadb0f@dread14.news.tele.dk...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I´m normally successful in performing VOR-navigation, but I have been
>> wondering, since I read the lesson in VOR navigation by Rod Machado.
>>
>> He says, if you want to track a VOR station, set the OBS on the VOR
>> indicator to, lets say 330 degrees, and fly heading 330. That´s how you
>> always do it according to him, or perhaps I have misunderstood something.
>>
>> How can that be possible, if you are north of the VOR station, then you
>> are flying away from it, and I can´t always know in advance, where I am,
>> in relation to the VOR, or can I??. Of course I could always check the
>> map-display, to see where the station are in relation to my position. But
>> isn´t there something wrong in the way Rod Machado has explained that
>> part??
>>
>> Maybe some of you can explain it to me..??
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>
>
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