User Guide

Learning To Fly with Rod Machado
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Ask yourself, “What’s the best way to get to the Bigfoot VOR?” It’s reasonable to assume you’re
always on some course that goes to a VOR. But how do you know which course this is?
Tune in the Bigfoot VOR frequency on your navigational radio, rotate the OBS until you get a TO flag
indication with a centered needle as shown by Airplane B, Figure 11. Look up at the index to see
what course is selected. In this instance, you’re on the 305-degree course to the Bigfoot VOR. Turn to
a heading of 305 degrees on your heading indicator and fly that course to the VOR as shown by
Airplane B. Easy, eh?
As you approach the VOR, ask yourself what course runs from the center of the station through
Wrongway airport. Draw a line (or eyeball the value) to determine this course. It appears that the 255-
degree course runs from the VOR through Wrongway airport. Therefore, when you’re over the station,
turn the airplane to a heading of 255 degrees, and then rotate the OBS to 255 degrees. Now your
VOR display is set to track the 255-degree course from the VOR to Wrongway airport, as shown by
Airplane C. Let’s try this entire sequence in the air.
Choose Tutorial 9, Situation 4. In this example, imagine you’ve just departed Ulost airport (there’s
no airport down there, so don’t go looking for it). Your objective is to track to the VOR, then track
outbound on the 255-degree radial until your DME reads 7 miles from the station (we’ll assume this
is Wrongway airport’s distance from the VOR station). Here’s how to do it.
1. If it’s not already displayed, display the radio
stack (as shown in Figure 12) by clicking the
white Avionics button at the bottom of the
instrument panel.
2. With the simulation paused, set your navigation
radio to the Bigfoot VOR frequency (114.1
MHz). Set this frequency in your No.1
navigation radio (Figure 12) by moving the
mouse cursor directly over the values shown to
the right or left of the decimal point. Move the
cursor until a “+” or “–“ indication appears, then
click the mouse button to change frequency.
3. Click the Avionics button again to hide the radio
stack.
4. Rotate the OBS until the needle centers and the
VOR display shows a TO indication. You should
end up with a course of approximately 305
degrees and an upward-pointing triangle.
5. Now press P to activate the simulation.
6. Track to the station by turning left to a heading
of 305 degrees. Once you’ve reached 305
Figure 12
No.1 NAV RADIO