More VOR

Eventually I managed to get on top of the simulator. I genuinely don’t think I have a problem with the instrument flying but I did have serious issues with that damn simulator. Rolling out from a turn is near impossible when you have to remember that level actually means 10 degrees of left bank.

The one BIG advantage of a simulator is the ability to pause it. Once I was on a reasonable heading and a fairly stable altitude Bob paused the torture device and asked me to tell him where I was. He was looking more for an answer involving VORs and radials than “the seventh level of hell” apparently.

Actually this is something I know how to do.

1)      Dial in the VOR frequency on Nav 1, for this one I was using the Simcoe VOR

2)      Listen to the Morse Ident. My Morse listening skills are terrible (even more so with the ELT bleating) but the Ident for this VOR involves … followed by - - - , and is relatively easy to spot.

3)      Turn the OBS card until the flag reads FROM and the needle is centred

4)      Read the radial off the top and draw a line from that radial on your chart

5)      Rinse and repeat on Nav2 for your next VOR, in this case YYZ’s

6)      Where the lines intersect, that’s your position.

First problem, we can’t seem to switch between Nav 1 and 2. Bob tries. No luck. I continue to fly the plane. We rope in another instructor; he reaches over and starts rotating things at random to see if they move the second OBS card.

“Will you NOT move my bloody heading indicator while I’m trying to fly a sodding course here” I request not so politely. He immediately apologises and I feel bad as yet again I realise that not everyone appreciates all I’m mouth and no real bite.

We can’t figure it out, so I dial in Simcoe VOR do my stuff, pause it and then switch to YYZ. I manage to get a rough position. Bob pauses the machine.

Holy crap! I’m actually pretty much spot on.  Against all the odds, something has actually worked. Still paused we look at my chart and figure out a course to a nearby airport. We talk over the procedure for intercepting a radial, I work out the 90 degrees and fly that course as much as the damn machine will let me.

Again I am mildly amazed as I see the needle slowly start to move towards the centre. I fly along my selected radial and against all the odds I look up at the screen and see an airport in front of me. I power back and make contact with the runway. I won’t dignify it by calling it a landing. No rudder, remember.

Jeez that was bloody hard work but I guess I’m a lot happier with the VOR stuff. Added bonus I’ve tripled the amount of instrument time I have.

Bad news, I’m still not half way to the amount I need.  I just don’t know if I can face that simulator again for a while.