Whether to choose Nav or GPS ?

Whether to choose Nav or GPS ?

I'm trying to make my Sim flying as realistic as possible, especially during the flight planning stages. I check out the SID plates for my departing airport, I choose an appropriate enroute path, and finally the destination airport STAR procedure's. I use G-Plan as I can create the actual procedures onto the G-Plan map and export to FSX. The result (in wave points) is near enough as per the actual plates which is great ! The original plates are then used for altitude guidance etc.

 

At the completion of a flight I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that I at least came close to flying the route published. I'm not a real life pilot so my question is - in the 'real world', if I was flying IFR in a GA aircraft could I (as I can in SIM flying) plan my route using the published NAV aids such as NDB's, VOR's, DME arcs etc and when exported to FSX select the GPS which automatically converts them all into wave points (very accurately too) ! I could then choose to fly manual or autopilot using the GPS. In other words, although not as interesting would I, as a real pilot, fly GPS as much as possible ? Even quite complex SID's and STAR's are a whole lot simpler to fly when converted to GPS wave points.

 

I don't include Localisers and Guide slopes in this question for they have a specific function of landing safely onto a runway but in general, would I be successful and legal converting NAV aids to GPS wave points ?

 

Regards to all...

I'm not a pilot but I think as long as you hit the waypoints in the flightplan you have filed, ATC or any other governing body wouldn't be concerned. While flying in GPS mode can automate a lot of the functions, flying manually, as you said, gives more satisfaction. Just as flying VFR using landmark navigation does. To be honest, I am not sure whether I answered your question though.

To answer your title question, do what works. The better your navigation, the more attention you can devote to other tasks including looking around.

 

Real world pilots will use all the technology at their disposal. Before NextGen GPS Nav was introduced as a test bed in Alaska, pilots where crashing at the average rate of once every three days, and pilots dying every seven days. This has been greatly reduced. Navigation technology reduced workload and increases situation awareness. It also allows you to complete efficient routes where you can optimize fuel loads for better landings in shorter runways.

 

Use NAV when you want to use the HDG control to point the plane anywhere you want. Use GPS mode when you want the GPS map to follow a loaded flight plan. It's that simple. There are external navigation programs which will use HDG/NAV mode to control the plane for you.

 

People are always asking here what is the rule or the right way. There is none. whatever gives you the greatest control and confidence in piloting. The best pilots are flexible pilots thinking far ahead of where they are.

 

-Pv-

Thank you for your comments. I'm just wondering if converting 'NAV' VOR's, NDB's, etc into GPS wave points would even be noticed by ATC as long as the altitudes and headings where correct. I also find performing HOLD's where the Fix is a NAV much easier in GPS mode.

 

If, despite plates that state "must use" VOR/DME or NDB it actually doesn't matter to ATC as long as the route is flown correctly then I guess the days of conventional Navigational aids are numbered. GPS becoming the norm. It does seem a bit too simplistic though. I must be missing something.

In the real world, a pilot with both GPS and NAV/COM can use whatever he wishes, any time he wishes, if he's VFR (rules)*, while for IFR (rules)* he chooses the navaid (VOR or GPS or NDB or...) that he needs for his clearance route. Likely he'd use GPS for most of the flight, but possibly (depending on the approach type) he's use the NAV (ILS, VOR, etc.) for the approach, unless he also chooses a GPS approach (they're becoming rather common now).

 

But the pilot can plan (and fly) in whatever mode he prefers. Note that there are still some aircraft out there without IFR certified GPS (and even with no GPS at all), meaning the pilot would have to use the VOR, etc. when IFR.

 

In any case, for VFR you can even just use the plain old Mark I eyeball, if you choose, perhaps with a paper map (chart).

 

So choose the way YOU want to fly, based on the equipment in your virtual aircraft, and have at it!

 

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*Rules: Visual Flight Rules is not the same as Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC), as the former is strictly the RULES under which you are flying and the latter is the weather conditions you actually encounter along the way. And the same for IFR and IMC.

Both in the real world and in the sim ATC, they are less concerned over what source you used as waypoints and more over whether you are following them or not.

 

There are some differences between what "real" ATC care about and what the very simplistic and inhuman AI built into the sim responds to.

 

If you are only concerned that the sim ATC provides predictable responses to your navigation, then create any flight plan you want, however you want and just follow it. If you cannot follow it then just cancel your plan.

 

If you want to train yourself to follow real world ATC instructions and create flight plans acceptable to them, then joining the Vatsim multiplayer network is fun and rewarding. You can download real world flight plans and get an idea how they are created by visiting simroutes.com (among others.)

 

-Pv-

I'm trying to strictly fly by instruments. I'm not a real pilot, but it seems to me you want to be prepared for anything that happens and still land safely. I asked a pilot the other day and his answer was to turn off the GPS, if possible. The other thing I am trying to get use to is not looking out the window. I fly using VoxAtc and have become very acclimated to using charts. I want to join Vatsim, when I feel more comfortable.