I don't know how to flight plan any more

I'm flying to Pittsburgh this weekend, and as usual I'm going to KAGC
(Allegheny County). But for a change, instead of taking the club's Lance
I'm going to be taking the Dakota - and unlike the Lance, the Dakota has a
Garmin 530W in it. Now normally, I'd pull out the route I have on my PDA
in CoPilot, plot it on a couple of low altitude enroute charts, and file a
flight plan on those airways. But with the GPS, I'm not sure how to
proceed. Should I just draw a straight line and file direct? I know that
the straight route doesn't go through any special use airspace, and the
altitude I normally fly is high enough to clear any obstacles.

Hey, the worse that could happen is that they give me a full route
clearance, right? And I'll bet the full route clearance isn't too far off
my normal route.

--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard...." - John F Kennedy

Pick a safe altitude and file direct. I've gone from Wisconsin to
Charleston, SC direct, as well as upstate New York, and South Dakota without
a course change, all using the 530/430.

If the course ends up crossing an active MOA or restricted area, ATC will
vector you around as needed.

Who needs victor airways and VOR's? Listen to the XM radio while you're
enroute. Tune the VOR's and practice your Morse code if you have to, because
you won't need them for navigation.

It's great to hear cleared as filed when you depart on a four hour trip.

Shoot a LNAV/VNAV or LPV approach and see how steady the needles are
compared to an ILS.

Good luck and enjoy playing with the box.

Viperdoc wrote:
Pick a safe altitude and file direct. I've gone from Wisconsin to
Charleston, SC direct, as well as upstate New York, and South Dakota without
a course change, all using the 530/430.

If the course ends up crossing an active MOA or restricted area, ATC will
vector you around as needed.

Who needs victor airways and VOR's? Listen to the XM radio while you're
enroute. Tune the VOR's and practice your Morse code if you have to, because
you won't need them for navigation.


You know, the greatest danger with those systems is complacency. I did a flight
many years ago when LORAN first became available in GA aircraft and was on my
way from Charlotte, NC to Beverly, MA when the system decided to change chains
on me. Oops. There I was, not paying a whole lot of attention and all of the
sudden I didn't know where I was. I mean, I knew I was somewhere on a direct
line between CLT and BVY but that was about it. I was just daydreaming away...
something I'd never do on a conventional victor airway flight.

Not only did I have to figure out where I was, I had to figure out what happened
to the LORAN. I learned that they had chains and that they sometimes needed to
be changed depending on where you were. I managed but there were a few minutes
of sheer confusion while I was dealing with it. Thank God I wasn't in
turbulence.


Shoot a LNAV/VNAV or LPV approach and see how steady the needles are
compared to an ILS.


I really got to learn how to do one of those. I can still fly a good NDB
approach and my ILS work looks good, but those GPS approaches are beyond me. I
guess I need to pay an instructor. I hate that.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

I agree that the new boxes can lead to complacency, and I still tune the
VOR's along the route, although it really has become an academic exercise
only.

The 530 makes stuff like tracking an NDB outbound with a strong crosswind a
thing of the past.

The new box gives exact course guidance, suggests when to do the PT, along
with the correct headings, and will guide you to the missed approach point
with the correct holding pattern entry.

It really helps the situational awareness in IMC.

In article ,
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

I'm flying to Pittsburgh this weekend, and as usual I'm going to KAGC
(Allegheny County). But for a change, instead of taking the club's Lance
I'm going to be taking the Dakota - and unlike the Lance, the Dakota has a
Garmin 530W in it. Now normally, I'd pull out the route I have on my PDA
in CoPilot, plot it on a couple of low altitude enroute charts, and file a
flight plan on those airways. But with the GPS, I'm not sure how to
proceed. Should I just draw a straight line and file direct? I know that
the straight route doesn't go through any special use airspace, and the
altitude I normally fly is high enough to clear any obstacles.

Hey, the worse that could happen is that they give me a full route
clearance, right? And I'll bet the full route clearance isn't too far off
my normal route.

If you are /G, file a flight plan as you would have an RNAV route.
Draw your lines on the chart, record the headings.
File one waypoint in each ATC sector, VOR/Radial/Distance (every 50-100
nm).

Don Brown wrote an excellent article on this topic. It is in the AvWeb
archives.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message
...
Viperdoc wrote:
Pick a safe altitude and file direct. I've gone from Wisconsin to
Charleston, SC direct, as well as upstate New York, and South Dakota
without
a course change, all using the 530/430.

If the course ends up crossing an active MOA or restricted area, ATC will
vector you around as needed.

Who needs victor airways and VOR's? Listen to the XM radio while you're
enroute. Tune the VOR's and practice your Morse code if you have to,
because
you won't need them for navigation.


You know, the greatest danger with those systems is complacency.

The greatest danger with ANY system is complacency.

How many pilots missed a VOR flag popping off? Etc.

"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
I agree that the new boxes can lead to complacency, and I still tune the
VOR's along the route, although it really has become an academic exercise
only.

The 530 makes stuff like tracking an NDB outbound with a strong crosswind
a thing of the past.

The new box gives exact course guidance, suggests when to do the PT, along
with the correct headings, and will guide you to the missed approach point
with the correct holding pattern entry.

It really helps the situational awareness in IMC.
And in VMC.

For example, on the traffic page, it's nice to know someone is creeping up
behind you.

Yeah - these new boxes devalue all those years of gritting teeth, sweating
brow, and puckering ... and make those learning experiences worth much
less - until the damn things quit.

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas
"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
...

The 530 makes stuff like tracking an NDB outbound with a strong crosswind
a thing of the past.

"Jim Carter" wrote in message
...
Yeah - these new boxes devalue all those years of gritting teeth, sweating
brow, and puckering ... and make those learning experiences worth much
less - until the damn things quit.

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas

Jim, I certainly hope you cut your grass with a slingblade.

"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
...

The 530 makes stuff like tracking an NDB outbound with a strong crosswind
a thing of the past.

C'mon Matt - power mowers are the way to go, but when they break it sure is
nice to still be in shape to use the slingblade if we have to. That was my
whole point.

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas
"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"Jim Carter" wrote in message
...
Yeah - these new boxes devalue all those years of gritting teeth,
sweating brow, and puckering ... and make those learning experiences
worth much less - until the damn things quit.

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas

Jim, I certainly hope you cut your grass with a slingblade.

"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
...

The 530 makes stuff like tracking an NDB outbound with a strong
crosswind a thing of the past.