Need desperate help with diversions!

[Stomp16]

A bad thing? Why? It takes about 5 seconds to do and gives you a more precise heading? What if your in a fuel emergency and that little more precise of a heading means the difference in the engine quiting before or after you land? Just throwing a "what if" out there. I really don't see it as a bad thing at all.

 

[KLB]

A bad thing? Why? It takes about 5 seconds to do and gives you a more precise heading? What if your in a fuel emergency and that little more precise of a heading means the difference in the engine quiting before or after you land? Just throwing a "what if" out there. I really don't see it as a bad thing at all.

I don't no man...I think you have serious problems if you have students that can't fly 15-20 miles by pilotage.

 

[Stomp16]

I don't no man...I think you have serious problems if you have students that can't fly 15-20 miles by pilotage.

That's a good point. I haven't given training on diversions, but am basing my opinion off of what I was taught during my training. (All my dual given has been Instrument and I haven't given people diversions under the hood yet.) All our diversions were done under the hood, even for VFR purposes. We had to cross-check our position off of two VOR's and draw a line from that point to where ever we were diverting to. We were taught that a plane is never flying perfect and there is always something to correct. If you're not correcting, you're not doing your job. Correct, correct, correct....... But, that's getting off topic.

My initial point was that it doesn't take long at all to figure out heading, time, fuel and distance. A diversion is usually a non event. Figuring out a more precise heading besides "over there" IMO looks better to an examiner than just kinda going in a general direction. What if your diversion is caused by a medical emergency? The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If the more precise direction saves you two mintues as compared to the "general direction" diversion, that two minutes might save a persons life.

I don't know, call it obsessive/compulsive or something, but I always like to know exactly where I am heading as opposed to a general direction.

 

[wheelsup]

I liked to add a few degress left or right "for mom and the kids" when doing a diversion, but to sit there and figure it out? I dunno, that might be a little much to expect of a private. Maybe a commercial though. Also they have their work cut out for them, switching freqs, listening to unicom, looking in the A/FD, etc. etc. etc.

I think the real issue is the OP was expected to do all this math, including estimating distance, without the use of a E6B or even a plotter (or as he understands it)!

How did it go BTW?