variable mag. variation?

[killbilly]

Question, please.

I'm just starting into my XC phase on my PPL training, and my CFI has me doing some flight planning. I've already phone him with this question but thought you might have some quicker answers for me.

When flying XC, (in this case, KTKI to KPRX) I'm noticing on the sectional that lines indicating magnetic variation change over distance....not by much, and probably not enough to make a major difference, but what line/which line do you use to calculate magnetic variation?

If I was flying over a longer distance, I could see a degree or two or three making a much larger difference.

Just curious.

Thanks in advance, gents.

 

[jynxyjoe]

i told my students to use the one in the middle (average in other words).

cfi/ii/mei

 

[MikeOH58]

I'd just get used to +/- 1 to your magnetic course as you pass through different isogonic lines of variation. If for anything, when you go for your checkride, the examiner will most likely want to see you caught that...If anything, maybe it will impress him.

 

[jynxyjoe]

I'd just get used to +/- 1 to your magnetic course as you pass through different isogonic lines of variation. If for anything, when you go for your checkride, the examiner will most likely want to see you caught that...If anything, maybe it will impress him.

got a little ben harper on the signature hu? nice.

 

[moxiepilot]

i have students calculate the closest varation and as it changes change it in your flight plan. That is technically accurate. The reality is is that if you can hold a degree or two in heading you should be taking your commercial checkride, not your PPL

 

[killbilly]

i have students calculate the closest varation and as it changes change it in your flight plan. That is technically accurate. The reality is is that if you can hold a degree or two in heading you should be taking your commercial checkride, not your PPL

Heh. Noted. Something to shoot for, I guess.

 

[Chewie von Nubbins]

Well, after you get good and proficient at spending 3 hours doing a flight plan the 'old skool way' and then you see how to plug in your flight plan landmarks into DUATS and have the computer automatically generate the winds and such in 3 seconds......you are gonna be soooooo bitter.

However, you still gotta know how to do it the old skool way.

BTW - I recommend for you to start using ONLY airports/vor's now as your checkpoints for flight planning. Preferably uncontrolled airfields that are between 15 - 20 miles apart. Sure, they might not be the optimal way to get to/from your destination airport, but you will thank me later when you go to 'check your work' using DUATS or a flight planning program.

Just my .02 pesos

 

[killbilly]

BTW - I recommend for you to start using ONLY airports/vor's now as your checkpoints for flight planning. Preferably uncontrolled airfields that are between 15 - 20 miles apart. Sure, they might not be the optimal way to get to/from your destination airport, but you will thank me later when you go to 'check your work' using DUATS or a flight planning program.

Just my .02 pesos

I've only done one XC so far with my CFI - that was a run from TKI up to Falconhead (37K - poor excuse for a runway, if you ask me, but I'm a complete noob so what do I know?) and then down to Gainesville (GLE) for some barbecue and back to TKI.

On that flight, he was mainly teaching me straight pilotage - learning to identify landmarks in the air and make course/wind correction based on ground track. A lot more challenging than I expected it to be. I started playing with the VOR on the return leg just to kill some time. I've only got one in the plane.

We're doing some ground school tomorrow night, and then Wednesday we're doing another XC together. Depending on how I do on that, he's going to cut me loose for a solo XC on Friday. Maybe. I'm not sure yet.

I actually enjoy the flight planning and some of the tedium of flight planning. It may get old real quick, and at some point I'll start using DUATS, but I want to learn old-skool way. Also interested in learning solid dead-reckoning skills as well.

And I want a GPS for backup. Someone offered me a Lowrance 2000C for $600. I was mighty tempted....

 

[jynxyjoe]

Well, after you get good and proficient at spending 3 hours doing a flight plan the 'old skool way' and then you see how to plug in your flight plan landmarks into DUATS and have the computer automatically generate the winds and such in 3 seconds......you are gonna be soooooo bitter.

However, you still gotta know how to do it the old skool way.

BTW - I recommend for you to start using ONLY airports/vor's now as your checkpoints for flight planning. Preferably uncontrolled airfields that are between 15 - 20 miles apart. Sure, they might not be the optimal way to get to/from your destination airport, but you will thank me later when you go to 'check your work' using DUATS or a flight planning program.

Just my .02 pesos

hey just my two cents. i could get a VFR flight plan done (+200 miles) in 15 minutes start to finish with the old whiz wheel and a swinging ruler. may not be as fast as duats but you sure know a hell of a lot more than the guy doing the printout.

 

[Chewie von Nubbins]

hey just my two cents. i could get a VFR flight plan done (+200 miles) in 15 minutes start to finish with the old whiz wheel and a swinging ruler. may not be as fast as duats but you sure know a hell of a lot more than the guy doing the printout.

Hey, no disagreement there bro! I must have spent a solid 14 hours on a good handful of killer flight plans that I was so proud of. No doubt that one must understand how to do them from scratch...kinda like a right of passage. But, boy did I get bitter when I spent a solid 2 hours on a flight plan the old skool way and my CFI at the time came right in behind me and plugged it all into duats and checked my work. The point was this...I knew how to do it and was just starting to get really proficient at plotting everything out and spinning the winds. I think he added a little of the 'ole torture factor in there when he had me whip up a 250+ NM flight plan knowing that I already knew how to do it the old skool way. Then, he said: Now, let me show you how to do all of that in 2 minutes. The impression that situation made on me was a good teacher/student moment. Probably something that I might start doing in the near future as well.

Billy, the Garmin 296 is so much nicer than any other comparable (price) product out on the market.

Just my .02 rupees

 

[jynxyjoe]

Hey, no disagreement there bro! I must have spent a solid 14 hours on a good handful of killer flight plans that I was so proud of. No doubt that one must understand how to do them from scratch...kinda like a right of passage. But, boy did I get bitter when I spent a solid 2 hours on a flight plan the old skool way and my CFI at the time came right in behind me and plugged it all into duats and checked my work. The point was this...I knew how to do it and was just starting to get really proficient at plotting everything out and spinning the winds. I think he added a little of the 'ole torture factor in there when he had me whip up a 250+ NM flight plan knowing that I already knew how to do it the old skool way. Then, he said: Now, let me show you how to do all of that in 2 minutes. The impression that situation made on me was a good teacher/student moment. Probably something that I might start doing in the near future as well.

Billy, the Garmin 296 is so much nicer than any other comparable (price) product out on the market.

Just my .02 rupees

i used to be an aircraft dispatcher too... i'm kinda a flight planning snob. (ick hu?)

 

[killbilly]

Billy, the Garmin 296 is so much nicer than any other comparable (price) product out on the market.

Just my .02 rupees

Thanks for the referral on that one. I looked it over and it sure looks like a nice GPS, but it also looks like that Lowrance I was offered does all the same stuff for half the price.

It's a moot point, though. I won't have the money for that for a little while yet - blew my "toy" budget on something else recently. I'll likely buy something used for a few hundred bucks. I mainly want a handheld GPS just as a back up to learning pilotage/dead reckoning...to check my work, as it work.