Diversions

[David MacRay]

Love that video. You had me at lunch and the information seems solid. To be honest I would have probably just headed over in that scenario. Presuming I know I have plenty of fuel.

[TwinOtterFan]

Another trick is to keep a few 4 mi/inch topos depending where you are navigating - best thing for map reading.

I had actually just heard about another student who had some maps printed of the area he was testing in that were of better scale and quality and it was allowed and he said it helped a lot.

I have been practicing and I do find the math getting quicker I can get most the the data in about 90 seconds but what I find I miss now is the "safety details" I fly around wind farms, glider clubs, a drop zone and some military air space.

I understand that as I build SA of the area I will almost naturally know what to avoid, and direction but as a learning pilot I don't understand why the 60 seconds part is so crucial.

[Slick Goodlin]

as a learning pilot I don't understand why the 60 seconds part is so crucial.

It isn’t. Some reasonable amount of expediency is good though and your instructor is probably counting on the factors of your flight test slowing you down a bit then you may not use this information again for years before suddenly having to dredge it up from the far recesses of your mind when it matters. They’re doing their best to set you up for future success, though perhaps a little misguided on the method.

[Liquid_Charlie]

You don't own a cell phone

Strangely enough canada does not have cell coverage in about 75% or more based on area. With a country this large and 95% of the population live within 200 km of the US border dictates mobile coverage here.

So no a mobile phone might be a tool but I would not trust it to bail me out, there are better plans than that.

[David MacRay]

I think the phone might be worth a look in a situation. The position information will not be there outside cellular coverage areas but you might find out you got close enough for it to light up.

Maybe not in a little tube and fabric plane but if you’re flying in at least a four seat trainer, something you can actually go places in. Even for a Ludite like myself I would think one of those external GPS with Bluetooth units would be pretty nice.

• Bad Elf
• Garmin glo
• Dual

Then your phone is just another redundant albeit small screen to run a moving map on.

https://ipadpilotnews.com/2020/12/whats ... r-my-ipad/

Fair warning, I’m too cheap to own one. I just keep watching and reading about the things trying, to maintain a rough idea of what you can get. In case I ever stray from my short pleasure cruise flying in the Citabria capable areas again.

Here we go. The top Bad Elf is 3.2 ounces. Gets all sorts of information picks up GPS and the Glonass system for extended range and can go 1000 miles per hour!
https://www.gpscity.ca/bad-elf-2300-pro ... ata-logger

I might have to cough up for the less expensive Bad Elf.
Squaretail has a good point. No reason besides being cheap I should be with out one of these, even putting around in a Citabria. 3.2 ounces is worth it for the extra navigation capabilities.

[Liquid_Charlie]

I have a Garmin inreach for my jet boat wanderings but I do take it with me in my truck as well because the lack of cell coverage. You can just turn it on and not connect your phone but with the phone you can navigate with it. I don't use it that way since I have stand alone garmin units in the truck and the boat. Oh ya as a side bar, don't waist money on built in GPS in your car for navigation they are complete garbage and piss poor data bases. Inreach would work fine in an aircraft and if you were "back country" flying I think it's mandatory equipment. Some might think it's pricey at $35/month but it sure is reassuring when you have no other way of communication. I even gave my daughter my CAA info so I can txt her and she can see my position and send tow truck -- lol

Yup a mobile phone is a good backup device but know it's limitations and where you are flying is all.

[David MacRay]

That’s a lot of money for me but I’m typically in radar coverage and normal people pay triple that for their cellular phone service. So I totally agree with you.

Does the InReach work with different phone apps or just the garmin one?

I know what you mean about the GPS units for your car. Even if my wife updates the thing, in a strange city I often play the who’s route is better game with it, it sings “recalculating” like a rapper.

[RBK]

I agree about the inreach. I had one of the first generation spots but it started missing 3 or 4 of the points in a row on a regular basis. With the the RV, that’s a lot of ground that gets covered where searchers don’t know how far you got. I ended up getting the inreach mini, mainly because it’s possible to send texts with it which could be a game changer in an emergency. As far as the plan being more expensive than spot, I found it is actually less. I went with the least expensive option where you pay by the point rather than having the unlimited option. I fly about 75 hours a year, and most months are less than $25, with the occasional summer month being slightly higher.

As far as diversions go, I’ve never used the method taught during flight training in over 30 years and around 1700 hours as a private pilot. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had to divert, but always knowing where you are, and having the GPS 295 available made the diversion easy. I’ve had 4 or 5 diversions required because of suddenly reduced visibility in smoke, and quite honestly, circling over a point on the ground when the ground is barely visible isn’t going to work. I’ve also had to divert because of deteriorating weather where the TC approved method may have worked, but it was easier just to select the alternate on the GPS and focus on flying the aircraft and watching for obstacles rather than figuring out things manually.

I’m a sissy when it comes to fuel. I like to land with an hour left when on a cross country. With my current plane (an RV 6a), performance really isn’t an issue if you take off slightly overweight, and I’ve burnt off the extra weight within fifteen minutes anyway.

[Squaretail]

Double post

[Squaretail]

You don't own a cell phone

Strangely enough canada does not have cell coverage in about 75% or more based on area. With a country this large and 95% of the population live within 200 km of the US border dictates mobile coverage here.

So no a mobile phone might be a tool but I would not trust it to bail me out, there are better plans than that.

Yeah, that’s my point. You should probably have more than just a map and compass too. Not sure about you, but when I’m flying over the swamp or tundra, I don’t encounter a lot of PPL level bugsmashers. If any. So what is this flight test scenario designed around? Most PPLs are going to be flying around where there’s still plenty of towns, and Canada has gotten pretty good with cell coverage. I was shocked to get a text between YZF and YCO one day. But remember if 95% of the coverage is where 95% of the people are, then that’s also where 95% of the PPL flying is happening.

Now I would like pilots to have that on the fly nav skill, should they need it. But if they need it, it isn’t going to be where the exercise as imagined by the PPL and CPL test is going to be super useful. In many cases there is a long chain of bad decisions you made that now your ability to conduct this diversion is what is going to save your life. Ultimately the base skill we want pilots to have is the ability to estimate distance, bearing and time so ideally they don’t get behind the 8 ball in the first place and have to “divert” while worrying about getting in the soup and running out of fuel to boot.