After I got tired of that and removed the hood, I asked "so, where are
we".
He laughed and told me that I was supposed to figure it out. So I did.

This seems rather useful to me. Why eliminate it?

You figured out your position using VORs? What decade was this? ;-)

Can I do that? Sure. Can I name the last time I needed to know that?
Nope. Can I even name the last time I did it? Nope.

If, in ten years and nearly 1000 hours of flying, I've never needed to
figure out my position by looking at the face of my VOR, as if I'd suddenly
awakened in my plane and didn't have a clue where I was, what the hell is it
doing on the written exam for Private Pilot? Who in the world uses VORs
for daily flight anymore?

I know, a lot of you guys do. Despite the fact that you've probably got a
Garmin/Lowrance/AvMap on your yoke that is 500 - 1000 times more accurate
and intuitive than your old 1953 Narco 12, you feel compelled to "follow the
needle" cuz that's what you're used to doing. Have fun, but don't fool
yourself into believing that this is a necessary or common way of flying
anymore. It *can* be eliminated from the Private Pilot curriculum, right
along with ADFs.

Which isn't to say that tracking a VOR isn't kind of fun, and (for those of
us at the bottom of the aviation food chain) still necessary for IFR flight.
But for regular, VFR navigation, VORs have pretty much outlived their
usefulness.

Oh, well. Keep VOR questions on the written exam for Instrument Pilot, for
the moment. In five more years everything will be GPS based, and
interpreting a VOR will be like knowing how to gauge your position by
listening to two tones in your headset.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"