"Ramapriya" wrote in message
oups.com...
I wish you all a very cheery 2005. You really are a nice set of guys
here (those branding me a terrorist notwithstanding), mostly patient
even at clarifying elementary stuff

Some more Qs, if you don't mind.

1. How does a pilot get to know the distance to the airport that he has
to land in, so that he plans his descent accordingly, in planes that
don't have an onboard computer? Maps I know would give the distance
between two fixed points, but how does he keep track of distance
covered in flight and that sort of thing? To inquire ground stations
such info would be embarrassing, I guess

It's called pilotage, you always know where you are.


2. What exactly is a VOR? Sounds like it's a constant all-direction
radio transmission from a fixed point on the airport to help locate
where the airstrip is. If so, does it necessarily have to be from *a*
standard designated point in the airfield, right across all airfields
on earth?


not on all airfields and not always at airfields..

3. If a pilot needs to land at an airport that doesn't have a control
tower, how does he figure its elevation so that he may plan his
descent?

he looks up the airport information before he starts out, the control tower
is not going to tell you the airfield elevation unless you ask, and then it
just shows that you did not do your preflight planning., very unprofessional

4. When a pilot says, "Give me a vector", what does he actually mean?

he needs a heading to fly to get somewhere, normally to get started while he
sorts it out in the cockpit, or the navigational aid he is heading to is to
far away to recieve

5. When pilots use miles in conversations, does it mean the miles we
normally use, or is it always nautical miles?

professional pilots use nautical, it is one arc minute of latitude on the
navigational charts

6. The difference between airspeed and groundspeed is that airspeed is
the net of the plane's speed and opposing windspeed, while groundspeed
is just the plane's speed. Right?

you got that backwards, ground speed is the net of airspeed and wind
effect..
airspeed is the speed of the aircraft through the air mass, regardless of
how the airmass is moving in respect to terra firma

7. What is "density altitude", and how to compute it? If I'm not wrong,
its use is to plan the length of takeoff roll and angle of climb.

there you are correct, density altitude will affect engine, propellor and
wing performance.
it is the air at elevation, normally measured by pressure and affected by
temperature.

high hot and humid is a bad combo

Cheers,

Ramapriya