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Radio beacons: Difference between revisions
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If you go to a place you are not familiar with you would buy (download) a map to find your way around. There are street names and specific buildings you can orientate yourself with. On your Swiss knife you have a mini compass you sometimes use to orientate the map North. | If you go to a place you are not familiar with you would buy (download) a map to find your way around. There are street names and specific buildings you can orientate yourself with. On your Swiss knife you have a mini compass you sometimes use to orientate the map North. | ||
Visual | Visual navigation is possible when you are low enough and when the weather allows it. To orientate yourself you use a map and a compass. Movement goes a lot faster as walking so to see where you are you have to update your position on the map often or else you will get lost quick. | ||
When there are not enough visual clues to know where you are you will have to rely on your equipment on-board to navigate. Lucky there is a rack of tools in your aircraft to help you find your way, even at night and high up in the sky. You just have to know how to use it. | When there are not enough visual clues to know where you are you will have to rely on your equipment on-board to navigate. Lucky there is a rack of tools in your aircraft to help you find your way, even at night and high up in the sky. You just have to know how to use it. | ||
Instead of relying on visual landmarks (roads, rivers, churches, towns) radio navigation relies on radio beacons. Radio beacons can be seen with the right equipment, from far away and independent of the weather. The position of radio beacons is clearly marked on navigation maps. Radio beacons are placed near airports, can be aligned with runways and can be placed in remote areas so to mark a route over them. | |||
IFR vs VFR | IFR vs VFR | ||
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====Dead reckoning==== | ====Dead reckoning==== | ||
A technique you will use every day in many situations. If you know where you are and how fast you move you can predict where you will be after some time. If you have a good compass and know your (ground) speed well you can even do some navigation with this method. Even with the navigational tools that are available today you will rely on this method without knowing it. For long tracks without radio beacons nearby (and no GPS) it is the only way to navigate. | A technique you will use every day in many situations. If you know where you are and how fast you move you can predict where you will be after some time. If you have a good compass and know your (ground) speed well you can even do some navigation with this method. Even with the navigational tools that are available today you will rely on this method without knowing it. For long tracks without radio beacons nearby (and no GPS) it is the only way to navigate. | ||
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_reckoning | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_reckoning | ||
===Planning=== | ===Planning=== | ||
Kelpie, leg, range, angles and headings. | Kelpie, leg, range, angles and headings. | ||