Maintaining VFR altitudes when following N/S roads/rivers

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Lou writes:

Why would you follow a road?

Pilotage. I try to practice different forms of navigation, and pilotage
is a
useful type of navigation for VFR flights.

This situation usually resolves itself.
If you are flying "pilotage" and at an altitude that the VFR cruising
altitudes applies, you will probably be picking out a ground reference many
miles away and cruise for some time before changing coarse. If you insist
on keeping you plane on the same coarse as the river or road then then you
are expected to follow the rule. If you are below 3000' agl, then the VFR
cruising rule doesn't apply.

--
Regards, Bob F.

Bob F. wrote:

If you are below 3000' agl,
then the VFR cruising rule doesn't apply.


Is that a US only rule or universal? They refer to lots of lower
altitudes as flight levels over there in Europe where mx is..

"Dave S" wrote in message
...
Bob F. wrote:

If you are below 3000' agl,
then the VFR cruising rule doesn't apply.


Is that a US only rule or universal? They refer to lots of lower altitudes
as flight levels over there in Europe where mx is..

I can only reference FAR 91.159. Someone familiar with Europe will have to
answer that side.

--
Regards, Bob F.

Dave S writes:

Is that a US only rule or universal? They refer to lots of lower
altitudes as flight levels over there in Europe where mx is..

The rules vary elsewhere, but I "fly" only in the United States, since I know
the regulations there better, and they don't change every 300 miles, and I'm
more familiar with regions in the U.S.

The rules in France are stranger, and they change from country to country, and
Europe in general is very messy in this respect, so I just don't "fly" there.

If I were ever to get a pilot's license, it would be in the U.S. Since I
don't live in the U.S., that's one reason why I don't try to get a pilot's
license (but it's not the most important reason).

Anyway, back to the topic ... it's true that I can fly in the general
direction of a road instead of following it precisely, but I find that it's
easy to get so far away that it's hard to see the road any more. Some
Interstates will turn west for miles, and then turn east again, and so on.
They stay in one direction long enough to get away from you if you are trying
to keep an "average" heading, but if you turn you have to change altitude.
Climbing and descending 2000 feet every few minutes seems like a lot for a
small aircraft.

I haven't seen anything in the FARs that provides a way around this for cruise
flight, except, as Bob has pointed out, flying below 3000 AGL. That would
work well enough in Iowa, and then the problem is solved. But over hilly
terrain it gets more difficult, and also other rules come into play for
low-altitude flight, such as the need to respect limitations over congested
areas, wildlife preserves, etc.

So, I am open to suggestions, and I'd like to hear how other pilots (real or
virtual) deal with this.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

The rules vary elsewhere, but I "fly" only in the United States, since I
know
the regulations there better, and they don't change every 300 miles, and
I'm
more familiar with regions in the U.S.

You don't fly anywhere, you're nothing but a simmer flying a desk. If you
knew anything about the US regs, you wouldn't be asking the question.

Wilhelm writes:

If you knew anything about the US regs, you wouldn't be asking the question.

I know a lot about the regulations, but perhaps you know more. In that case,
you can provide me with suggetsions.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Wilhelm writes:

If you knew anything about the US regs, you wouldn't be asking the
question.

I know a lot about the regulations, but perhaps you know more. In that
case,
you can provide me with suggetsions.

Yeah, keep your hands in our pants, where they can't do any harm.

"Wilhelm" luv2^fly99@cox.^net wrote in
:


"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

The rules vary elsewhere, but I "fly" only in the United States,
since I know
the regulations there better, and they don't change every 300 miles,
and I'm
more familiar with regions in the U.S.

You don't fly anywhere, you're nothing but a simmer flying a desk.

Neither do you, fjukkwit.


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Dave S writes:

Is that a US only rule or universal? They refer to lots of lower
altitudes as flight levels over there in Europe where mx is..

The rules vary elsewhere, but I "fly" only in the United States,


You don't fly, period, fjukkkktard.



Bertie

In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:

Anyway, back to the topic ... it's true that I can fly in the general
direction of a road instead of following it precisely, but I find that it's
easy to get so far away that it's hard to see the road any more. Some
Interstates will turn west for miles, and then turn east again, and so on.
They stay in one direction long enough to get away from you if you are trying
to keep an "average" heading, but if you turn you have to change altitude.
Climbing and descending 2000 feet every few minutes seems like a lot for a
small aircraft.

You fly towards the point where the road meets the horizon, or more
likely, since the horizon is over 80 miles away at 4500 AGL, fades
into the haze, which since you specified VFR, will be at least 3
miles away.

This is trivial to do in a real airplane.

If you can't do it in simulation, the simulation is the problem.


--
Jim Pennino

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