Maintaining VFR altitudes when following N/S roads/rivers

In rec.aviation.student BT wrote:
What you are doing is not pilotage.
Fly a straight line based on compass and wind correction computations.
Time between visual points, towns, bridges, etc to compute ground speed.
Correct the heading slightly based on "observations" from pilotage.

just following a meandering river or road is not pilotage.

My understanding is that you have just described dead reckoning with
occasional corrections coming from pilotage. Pure pilotage is simply
knowing where you are by looking out the window. When on the move, you
just keep looking out the window and keep updating your mental picture of
where you are. You may make mental estimates based on this of how long it
will be to get to the next landmark, but if you're doing actual
computation then you're beyond mere pilotage already.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

BT writes:

What you are doing is not pilotage.
Fly a straight line based on compass and wind correction computations.
Time between visual points, towns, bridges, etc to compute ground speed.
Correct the heading slightly based on "observations" from pilotage.

just following a meandering river or road is not pilotage.

Pilotage is supposedly navigation by visual landmarks, which presumably
includes roads and rivers. Successful pilotage implies that you can navigate
with just the visual features and a chart. If you are using calculations to
determine your position, it's more like dead reckoning. I do try to navigate
that way, too, but periodically I like to practice navigation by visual
features on the land below alone.

On Aug 24, 5:52*pm, "BT" wrote:

What you are doing is not pilotage.
Fly a straight line based on compass and wind correction computations.
Time between visual points, towns, bridges, etc to compute ground speed.
Correct the heading slightly based on "observations" from pilotage.

BT

Hmmm? I think what you are describing above is dead reckoning, not
pilotage.

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:48:28 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

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.

Yeah, roads and rivers and coastlines are the joy of flying low and
slow.

And the answer to the question is:

No, you fly at 2900 feet.



Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
new from HarperCollins www.FlyingTigersBook.com

In article ,
Cubdriver usenet AT danford DOT net wrote:

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:48:28 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

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.

Yeah, roads and rivers and coastlines are the joy of flying low and
slow.

And the answer to the question is:

No, you fly at 2900 feet.



Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
new from HarperCollins www.FlyingTigersBook.com

AGL

In article ,
Lou wrote:

Why would you follow a road? If you want to follow a road, drive a
car.
Why would you follow a river, rivers end.
Why not fly the plane?

An aircraft without DME, LORAN, and GPS may wish to stay out of the Boston
Class Bravo airspace. An excellent way to do that is follow 495 around Boston.
For those that want the torture, I know it can be done with just one VOR.

--
Bob Noel
(goodness, please trim replies!!!)

Bob Noel writes:

An aircraft without DME, LORAN, and GPS may wish to stay out of the Boston
Class Bravo airspace. An excellent way to do that is follow 495 around Boston.
For those that want the torture, I know it can be done with just one VOR.

I see that the 495 is almost north-south (magnetic) in some portions. How do
you manage your altitude when flying that portion of the highway?

A more difficult situation arises when the highway meanders substantially back
and forth from east to west, constantly crossing 360 or 180 degrees. If it's
in hilly country (as it might well be if it has to meander back and forth),
just setting a single heading might not be an option, as you can easily lose
sight of the highway. So, in that case, how does one manage altitude?

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Bob Noel writes:

An aircraft without DME, LORAN, and GPS may wish to stay out of the
Boston Class Bravo airspace. An excellent way to do that is follow
495 around Boston. For those that want the torture, I know it can be
done with just one VOR.

I see that the 495 is almost north-south (magnetic) in some portions.
How do you manage your altitude when flying that portion of the
highway?

A more difficult situation arises when the highway meanders
substantially back and forth from east to west, constantly crossing
360 or 180 degrees. If it's in hilly country (as it might well be if
it has to meander back and forth), just setting a single heading might
not be an option, as you can easily lose sight of the highway. So, in
that case, how does one manage altitude?


You're an idiot


Bertie

"Lou" wrote in message
...
On Aug 24, 1:43 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Mxsmanic wrote
:

If you are following a road or river or other feature on the ground
while flying VFR, and that feature runs north/south but often veers
off to one side or the other, are you expected to change your altitude
each time you move from a heading of 0-179 to 180-359 or vice versa?

Why would you follow a road? If you want to follow a road, drive a
car.
Why would you follow a river, rivers end.
Why not fly the plane?


That's for when you're flying with an IFR (I Follow Roads) clearance.
--
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants

On Aug 25, 5:16*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
If you are following a road or river or other feature on the ground while
flying VFR, and that feature runs north/south but often veers off to one side
or the other, are you expected to change your altitude each time you move from
a heading of 0-179 to 180-359 or vice versa?

The headings for VFR cruising altitudes are country dependent, and
your heading does not matter, just the ground track (due to the effect
of drift).

Cheers