Judah writes:

Again, a lack of training has left you without some very basic knowledge.
You can toggle between your primary and backup frequency even on 1 VOR to
pinpoint your position with good accuracy. You already have the skill, you
just don't understand how to apply them because you have not had proper
training.

Makeshift solutions are not something I'd want to depend on.

Unfortunately, the perspective in a Sim does not compare to the actual
perspective in a real airplane, and so I understand your concern. In a real
plane, this is not a major issue.

If weather conditions permit. But ideally I'd want to be able to fly
even in poor visibility.

Yes, but in real life, there are many more cues than just the road.

Not in the deserts of the American Southwest. Sometimes it's nothing
for miles. Although I'll grant that with a chart I might be able to
find something.

The basic idea was to just follow a highway to my destination, since
I've read that early pilots managed to do this much of the time.

You can
use your sectional to determine the location of towers, bridges, cities,
tracks, and other similar milestones so that you are not dependent on a
single point of failure.

If I had a sectional. Unfortunately, those are expensive, and finding
one for the southwestern U.S. in France would be problematic (and
costly).

I believe the G1000 panel has steam-guage backups of the minimum required
equipment.

I prefer a more non-integrated solution, because it reduces
interdependent failures. If the G1000 were just an information
display, fine; but I would not trust it to tie everything together.
That's too much dependence on one box.

The club members split the costs. The club has grown through several planes
over many years, and I have not been a member since the beginning, so I
don't know the exact history of how the first planes were purchased.
However, I imagine it started off with some number of people who decided to
start a flight club, purchased a plane or two using a mortgage, and split
the costs of the mortgage, tiedown, maintenance, upgrades, etc. I doubt
very much than anyone other than a bank "paid for all that gear up front".

Still, a fleet of planes is quite an investment. How many aircraft
are there, and how many members in the club?

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