Adam Rahnavard took to the skies again as part of his Private Pilot’s Licence flight training at the Multiflight Flight Training Centre at Leeds Bradford International Airport, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. Adam tells us here about the latest stage of his PPL flight training in Leeds: how to use the radio to tune in on a ground station to get a position fix. Read all about it here in our PPL flight training blog:
“As the flying lesson drew near it was becoming obvious that the weather would not allow my next solo flight as the cloud base was too low. My next nav solo would have to wait.
Plan b if not suitable for solo nav was to finish the handful of things outstanding for the PPL course. The last main one being how to use the radio to tune in on a ground station to provide a position fix. This is known as a VOR radio fix.
On arrival my flight training instructor Paul confirmed that this is what we would be doing and we would be able to do this in a short flight. I had brought with me two special VOR rulers needed to place on my map/chart. The idea being I can draw a straight line from each one and at the point they cross confirming the position of the aircraft.
We taxied out off runway 14 with the intention of completing the training locally in the Wetherby area. Once clear of controlled airspace Paul demonstrated how it was done. Using the second radio receiver we tuned in on the frequencies for Pole Hill and also Gamston VOR ground stations. This is done by putting in the frequencies and listening in for the morse code identifier which confirms the correct station and that it’s operational. This confirmed, next step was to turn the indicator until the direction arrow was ‘centred’ which provides the radial (in degrees) we were from the station. Doing this for both stations allowed me to draw two straight lines from the VOR stations to pin point my position. We knew where we were already and the fix confirmed it. I will be required to demonstrate this on my up and coming skills test so it was reassuring to see it was very straightforward to do. I did a few more to practise and really handy if ever lost or unsure of position.
Upon return Paul confirmed the focus now was my remaining solo flying hours so the next solo nav ex I had already planned needs to be next so much so there would be little point in me flying unless the weather was suitable for solo nav. Once that is completed I will be doing my cross country nav, a 150 nm round trip via Teeside and Humberside airports including landings. If this goes well I will do it solo as my ‘qualifying cross country’. Paul gave me the specifics to plan this route in preparation.
Revision and the all important ‘skills test’ would then await…”