Peter R. wrote:

Mostly I do, but I also like to keep current from a FAR standpoint.
Sometimes I purposely will navigate with VORs to remain current as per the
instrument currency requirements, as wells as to maintain proficiency with
VOR navigation.

Ah yes, but 61.57(c)(1)(iii) only requires that you "intercept and track
courses through the use of navigation systems." It doesn't specify that you
have to be current on VOR navigation systems.

Since GPS is not approved for "sole means," I of course do my 30-day VOR
receiver checks. That's perhaps the main use of my NAV/GPS button, since I
don't get to fly an ILS every 30 days.


Although I don't agree with leaving out the departing airport (in the event
one needs to get back to it quickly in IMC), I now see the value of putting
in those extra waypoints that show the entire first airway, rather than
having the first waypoint my first (usually VOR) waypoint en route.

I would never leave out my departing airport. Best of both worlds. I
commonly depart SE from here after joining V107. The local segment of V107
is defined by OAK and PXN VORs. There is an intersection on V107 called
VINCO. Even though OAK is several miles north of here and my departure
takes me immediately south and east, I program my route as:

KPAO OAK VINCO PXN ...

The clearance is always:

Turn right heading 060° radar vectors ...

I simply ignore the fact that the GPS is telling me to fly to OAK, and fly
my assigned vectors. As I get oriented near V107, which is already
depicted, the GPS automatically sequences and makes VINCO my next active
waypoint. The reason I have to put VINCO in there is not because of a bend
in the airway, but because sometimes the clearance will morph into "direct
VINCO when able, resume own navigation." If I fly across V107, I fly into
the side of a mountain, so it's important that I not be screwing around
trying to dial in all the letters in VINCO right then. You can bet that
when it's IMC, I have that airway dialed in, identified, and displayed on
NAV2, so I won't miss the turn.


Yes. But don't forget those free opportunities to track a few VOR radials
for currency during those routine flights.

Once a year, I fly the Hayward Air Race, where GPS units and (even DME) are
disabled and impounded, and we fly a rigorous navigational exercise down the
Central Valley of California and across the Mojave Desert to Bullhead City
AZ, by pilotage and VOR navigation only.

It's great practice because you're trying to find sometimes obscure little
landmarks at the turn points, and you need to be low to see them, so service
volume becomes a consideration in flight planning.