Maintaining VFR altitudes when following N/S roads/rivers

Mxsmanic opined

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?

To actually answer your question, hemispheric rules only apply if you are 3000'
AGL or less. If you are IFR (I Follow Roads), you are likely to be under 3000'.

-ash
Cthulhu in 2008!
Vote the greater evil.

"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

In rec.aviation.student Ash Wyllie wrote:
Mxsmanic opined

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?

To actually answer your question, hemispheric rules only apply if you are 3000'
AGL or less. If you are IFR (I Follow Roads), you are likely to be under 3000'.

Well, last time I went truly IFR (by your definition) was in Nevada at
about 12,000ft AGL. Visibility was "only" 15 miles or so, hiding my
destination in the haze, so I followed a road that I knew would take me
there. Of course I had no motor, so nobody cared about my cruising
altitudes.

However if you're up that high, you're unlikely to have to make constant
turns every few minutes to keep the road in sight.

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

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:25:04 +0000, jimp wrote:

Yes but a real pilot would be following a point on the horizon to smooth
out such things and maintain a more or less constant heading.

Heh. Not always.

There's an unofficial route through the Newark class B that follows the
Garden State Parkway. I was shown this on my club checkride; I'd never
before heard of it, but it's a terrific way to get between the two
airports where the club keeps airplanes.

So we're on this route, and I'm staying *right* over the parkway. The
instructor finally points out that I don't need to follow the road
exactly. I remind him "that's part of the fun."

Using a computer game, though, I'd expect this to be as interesting
as...well...playing a computer game.

- Andrew

Andrew Gideon writes:

So we're on this route, and I'm staying *right* over the parkway. The
instructor finally points out that I don't need to follow the road
exactly. I remind him "that's part of the fun."

Using a computer game, though, I'd expect this to be as interesting
as...well...playing a computer game.

It sounds like your instructor felt the same way about doing it in real life.

There's no accounting for taste.

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Andrew Gideon writes:

So we're on this route, and I'm staying *right* over the parkway.
The instructor finally points out that I don't need to follow the
road exactly. I remind him "that's part of the fun."

Using a computer game, though, I'd expect this to be as interesting
as...well...playing a computer game.

It sounds like your instructor felt the same way about doing it in
real life.

There's no accounting for taste.

There's no accounting for you at all.

bertie

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

Hello,

Which club is that? I have begun looking for a club in NJ

TJ
"Andrew Gideon" wrote in message
. verio.net...
On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:25:04 +0000, jimp wrote:

Yes but a real pilot would be following a point on the horizon to smooth
out such things and maintain a more or less constant heading.

Heh. Not always.

There's an unofficial route through the Newark class B that follows the
Garden State Parkway. I was shown this on my club checkride; I'd never
before heard of it, but it's a terrific way to get between the two
airports where the club keeps airplanes.

So we're on this route, and I'm staying *right* over the parkway. The
instructor finally points out that I don't need to follow the road
exactly. I remind him "that's part of the fun."

Using a computer game, though, I'd expect this to be as interesting
as...well...playing a computer game.

- Andrew