I’m often asked where did I fly today. Well, now that I have an i-pad with flying apps, I can show you:
Today was super cool. I learned about VOR: VHF (very high frequency) omni directional radio range. It’s a type of radio navigation system for aircraft to determine their position and stay on course. The VOR signal includes the station’s Morse code identifier and sometimes a voice identifier.
My wicked awesome instructor did double duty to teach me this. (In all honesty, he worked harder than that to teach me this because it was so foreign to me I just didn’t understand it at first.)
First of all, you need to get your bearing. In order to fly to the VOR station, you first twist the Omni Bearing Selector knob until the Course Deviation Indicator needle is centered and you see a triangle appears that says “TO” next to it. Now you turn the aircraft to this new heading while keeping the needle centered. It will take you to the VOR station. Today we went to the one in Pulaski, Virginia. Flying toward it, we had wind, so we were getting blown off. My wicked awesome instructor helped me learn about the amount of deflection to adjust for those winds.
As you get almost on top of the VOR station, the indicator needle goes awry. That is referred to as the cone of confusion. But, as soon as you go past it, you’ll see the “FROM” flag on the VOR displays.
Pretty cool, don’t you think?
I also put on a hood (a view limiting device that kind of looks like an overly made set of glasses with blinders to simulate flying only with your instruments.
What an exhausting but very awesome day! (I can only imagine how very tired my instructor must have been!)
I’m so caught up in the sense of wonder. My soul is in the sky.