Page 18 - Volume 10 Number 9

Figure 2: Terminal Procedure Chart (Approach Plate) for ILS or LOC Runway 4 at Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport (KJVL) in Janesville, Wisconsin. A good example of a non- GPS approach that uses DME arcs, in lieu of standard procedure turn options, for course reversal and to become established on the inbound approach course (in this case, a localizer). While the DME arc portion could be legally flown using an approach certified GPS, the entire procedure can be flown without the aid of GPS (or in the event of GPS failure) for aircraft equipped with DME and LOC/GS receivers.
only ever flown) with GPS and glass cockpit technologies. IFR pilots wishing to maintain true proficiency should be seeking out both published and non-published DME Arcs for practice. During such practice sessions, incorporate primary and backup navigation methods to fly these procedures using all acceptable methods.
Bearing Pointers
As ADF units have become most useful as paperweights and NDBs have been decommissioned at airports far and wide, pilots have become used to tracking courses and determining position almost exclusively with the combination of CDIs and moving map information. Yet, most modern avionics packages still have bearing pointers incorporated into them; in fact, usually more than one. Unfortunately, through disuse or poor
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initial training, too many modern pilots have lost all proficiency in the use of bearing pointers, both as tools for determining position TO or FROM a fixed point and as a means of tracking TO or FROM that same point.
Even in totally normal situations where all avionics and navigation equipment are working properly, bearing pointers are a fantastic situational awareness tool that is all too often ignored. In most avionics packages, bearing pointers can be selected to reference a variety of source information (VORs, NDBs or GPS Waypoints). But, the principals of their operation are always the same, regardless. A bearing pointer always points directly at the selected station, fix, or waypoint. Thus, the head of a bearing pointer always indicates the bearing TO, while the tail always indicates the bearing FROM. That information alone is situational awareness gold [Figure 3]!
In true backup navigation situations, bearing pointers can really earn their keep. Their versatility is the reason they’ve been incorporated into modern integrated avionics packages, long after ADF equipment has been excluded from many such systems, at least in the U.S. While they require a bit more thought and visualization than a basic CDI for navigation, they are not subject to the many errors of ADF/NDB systems when used for VOR or GPS navigation. Many pilots actually prefer a bearing
Figure 3: An example of a typical Bearing Pointer presentation within a glass-cockpit integrated avionics system. In this case, two Bearing Pointers are available for display and both have been selected to VOR stations. VOR #1 is tuned to
the YVV VOR and is represented by the single-line Bearing Pointer and the lower left data field. The aircraft is on a bearing of 214° TO or 034° FROM YVV, at a distance of 10.2 NM (DME distance). VOR #2 is tuned to the APN VOR and is represented by the double-line Bearing Pointer and the lower right data field. The aircraft is on a bearing of 283° TO or 103° FROM APN, at a distance of 109 NM (DME distance).
SEPTEMBER 2016