Interestingly enough, VORs and ADFs aren't even talked about in the UK PPL
except in the "that thing in the panel there is a VOR. Don't worry about
it" kind of sense. That stuff's considered advanced instrument equipment
and FAR to complicated for the average PPL to learn about without his brains
leaking out his ears.

Shawn


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:PGA7e.14356$xL4.13659@attbi_s72...
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"