Cirrus writes:

All these "replies", and I can see how you are still confused. It's
been a while since my Prive checkride, but be expected to demonstrate
pilotage, dead reckoning, and use of navaids. Notice on the PTS that
both areas are listed.

I looked in the FAA guide and it didn't unconfuse me much.

Flying for any distance with just landmarks or by dead reckoning would
be extremely awkward and potentially tiring (especially for dead
reckoning). I use something similar to that in many VFR flights, but
I still resort to VORs. With VORs you can mentally figure out things
and plot your course without having to do much in the way of
calculation. For example, in my last flight this afternoon I just
looked at the sectional and saw that when I was about 23 miles west of
the Imperial VOR on its 255 radial, I could turn to 295° towards the
Julian VOR and go northwest on the latter's 115 radial. No calculator
needed for that. Doing it by landmarks would be a lot more
troublesome.

The reality is that it will depend on your
examiner. Most VFR cross country flight will involve some combination
of navigation skills- you have to get on that airway somehow, right?
On your checkride, note your time when you takeoff, and explain to the
examiner how you are getting from the runway onto course. Make all your
turns from point A to point B, and update your flight log times as you
go.This might satisy him/her that you have the skills. You are the one
planning your cross country, so make sure you know what you have
planned- examiners have a sixth sense for knowing what you don't
know,lol.

Are examiners smarter than instructors? Are examiners experienced
pilots, or just bureaucrats, or what?

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