AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023 - 85

your GPS guides you from fix to fix along
a route. Each time you cross a waypoint,
the GPS sequences to the next waypoint,
perhaps your destination more than 100
miles ahead. If you want to confirm your
position or report your location to ATC or
flight service, citing a nearby reference is
much more helpful, especially if you have
just crossed a VOR along an airway or if a
navaid is nearby, off your left or right wing.
Cross-referencing VOR radials and
distances from navaids can also help you
confirm visual checkpoints along your
route. As you cruise in hazy skies above
Minnesota, is that water you're over Lake
Emily (on the 098 radial, about 13 nautical
miles from the MOX VOR)? Or Lake
Minnewaska (21 miles from MOX on the
079 radial)? (See below). Or one of the
myriad other small bodies of water in
Minnesota, the " Land of 10,000 Lakes " ?
If you're IFR, bearing pointers provide a
quick way to confirm cross-radials as you fly
approaches, even when you're using GPS to
fixes along the final approach course.
Bearing pointers are especially helpful
when you fly instrument departure
procedures based on VORs, such as the
serpentine ASTORIA THREE at Astoria,
Oregon (AST). You'd certainly use GPS
for primary guidance (as allowed per
AIM 1-2-3) while climbing and turning
after takeoff. But a bearing pointer always
aiming at a VOR as you maneuver vastly
improves your situational awareness and
provides an instant backup should your
GPS glitch.
The PFDs in systems like a G1000
can simultaneously display two bearing
pointers and DME-like distances. Some
pilots like to set one arrow to an RNAV
fix such as the final approach fix as they
fly approaches. But I typically associate
both needles with nearby VORs tuned in
the Nav 1 and Nav 2 radios. My PFD and
flight plan page always show distance and
bearing to GPS fixes in the flight plan, so to
complement the GPS data, I prefer associating
the bearing pointers with navaids.
Just remember that you can't link bearing
pointers to localizers, because LOC antennas
transmit only one course.
It's also important to understand that
you don't need to navigate-that is, fly
inbound or outbound (at least for long)-
with bearing pointers. They're most
helpful as aids to situational awareness.
But you can use bearing pointers to comply
promptly with ATC clearances such
as " proceed direct ABC VOR " or " intercept
the 090 radial. " If you have a bearing
pointer set to the VOR, you can quickly
aim the nose at the navaid or anticipate
an intercept, saving the head-down time
and confusion that often result when
you try to insert a leg in the flight plan or
load a navaid in the GPS and fiddle with
OBS mode.
Finally, bearing pointers are helpful
if ATC decides to play rough by issuing
a clearance to a fix defined only by the
intersection of two VOR radials. Instead
of trying to create a GPS user waypoint,
switch the CDI to green needles to track
AOPA PILOT / September 2023
85
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023

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