Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 30

TECHNIQUE

BY JILL W. TALLMAN

ILLUSTRATION BY CHARLES FLOYD

RIDING THE RADIALS
NAVIGATING BY VOR IS NOT EXTINCT

The FAA plans to shut down 300 ground-based navigation aids by 2025, and I bet you're hoping I'll
tell you it's OK if you don't learn how to navigate by following a radio signal to a very high frequency
omnidirectional radio range, or VOR. Wrong.
The VOR receiver will continue to plug along in many general aviation training airplanes. If
there's a functioning VOR in your airplane, you must demonstrate its use to a designated pilot examiner if requested. And as you progress into instrument training, you'll discover many airports do not
yet have GPS approaches-but chances are good they've got an instrument landing system or a VOR
approach.
So, embrace the VOR and its sometimes-complicated elegance. Once you've mastered the VOR,
try using it as your primary navigation source, relying on GPS as a backup. That's a very satisfying
feeling.
For practice, let's track a radial inbound to the Westminster VOR (EMI), 23 nautical miles from
Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK).

Tune in the VOR receiver (on the ground
before takeoff, if you wish). Find the discrete
frequency on a sectional chart and put that
into the airplane's navigation radio. Identify the
frequency by listening to the Morse code signal
over the frequency, which also will be included
on the sectional chart. Sometimes, you may
not be able to hear the VOR's Morse code until
you are airborne. For EMI, it's a dot, followed
by two dashes, followed by two dots.

Fly a heading that
intercepts the course
at about a 45-degree
angle. As the needle
begins to center again,
turn back so the
heading matches the
heading on the OBS.
Keep the adjustments
small so that you don't
overshoot.

With the ongoing decommissioning of
VORs, it's imperative to check a VOR
before you try to navigate by it. An
inoperative station may give out no
Morse code signal, or it may transmit a
test signal.
Departing Runway 5 from FDK, turn to the
heading shown on the CDI. Because you
are not yet flying directly toward the VOR
as you depart the airport, the CDI needle
will swing to the right to show that you are
not on course-that you are to the left or
north of the radial, and you need to move
the airplane right or south.

30

FLIGHT TRAINING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020



Flight Training - November/December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - November/December 2020

Contents
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - Intro
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - Cover1
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - Cover2
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - Contents
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 2
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 3
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 4
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 5
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 6
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 7
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 8
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 9
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 10
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 11
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 12
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 13
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 14
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 15
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 16
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 17
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 18
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 19
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 20
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 21
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Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 25
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 26
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 27
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 28
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 29
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 30
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 31
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Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 33
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 34
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 35
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 36
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 37
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Flight Training - November/December 2020 - 60
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Flight Training - November/December 2020 - Cover3
Flight Training - November/December 2020 - Cover4
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