CFI Here - Cross Country Flight Planning Question

[Lachlan]

He invented rhythm?

No way... he’s way too white,

 

[FlightInsight]

This is one of the trickiest decisions a CFI makes in my opinion. Teaching the old "paper and compass" method simply because it's the way we learned to navigate ignores the fact that almost everything we do in our lives nowadays involves GPS and some form of tech assist. Would I send my son or daughter on a cross country road trip without making sure they knew how to operate GPS?

However, flying requires special skills we don't often rely on in other parts of our lives. The ability to look out the aircraft window and identify surroundings and develop situational awareness using a chart (paper or electronic) is a skill every pilot MUST have. The Private ACS acknowledges this in the pilotage/ded reckoning segment by saying flight must be accomplished by reference to the "magnetic direction indicator."

The decision to use or not use things like GPS/ForeFlight really comes down to the particular student. In general, I've always started cross country training by teaching the nav log and using pilotage/ded reckoning. If a student asks about ForeFlight I will introduce that into the cockpit as well. Problems come up when the student shows they are over-relying on the tablet/GPS. Often times I've seen students hunt for things like frequencies or runway lengths by tapping around in the app, when a simple look at the chart would be quicker and limit head down time. When pilots have a sophisticated tool but don't know how to use it or use it the wrong way, it makes flight less safe, not more safe.

All this is to say that teaching navigation is a balance between stressing out-the-window technique and technology assisted flying. If a student shows difficulty relying solely on pilotage, it's time to bring technology into the cockpit. But if pilots are going off without the skill of orienting themselves by outside reference, they've been shortchanged in their training.

Dan, CFI



If students can't explain why the heading can be different from the GPS Track, it may be time to turn off the technology!

 

[Sierra_Hotel]

I had a recent IPC pilot have a glitch with Foreflight that for some reason nearly doubled his fuel needed. Neither of us could figure out why, but we were both smart enough to realize it was incorrect. If a student never learned how to calculate fuel consumption, how would they ever catch such an issue.

Besides, Foreflight isn't going to help you on the planning questions on the written tests.

I had the inverse happen recently. Weight and balance sheet for the aircraft looked correct. Wasn't until I plugged it into Foreflight and received the CG diagram with a CG a couple of inches outside the envelope that I realized one of the weights was wrong. Luckily the mechanic was around the next time I flew to get him to correct it. It made no impact on the aircraft since the weight was correct but the moment calculation used the wrong arm, but since intended to use that aircraft for my CFI ride I wanted to make sure it was done correctly.

As far as the original question, I was taught, and intend to teach, the paper/pencil manual way first, then show how it can be done more easily and quickly using electronic tools once the fundamentals are learned and understood.

 

[Skymac]

I’d find/build a flight log that doesn’t require information that I can’t access.

You print it from ForeFlight


Just had the test student pass his Checkride on the first go and it worked like a charm... It was effortless and yet he still had VFR checkpoints and dead reckoning ability with a Foreflight printout of the flight. Leverage technology to your benefit.

 

[Shuswap BC]

This is one of the trickiest decisions a CFI makes in my opinion. Teaching the old "paper and compass" method simply because it's the way we learned to navigate ignores the fact that almost everything we do in our lives nowadays involves GPS and some form of tech assist. Would I send my son or daughter on a cross country road trip without making sure they knew how to operate GPS?

However, flying requires special skills we don't often rely on in other parts of our lives. The ability to look out the aircraft window and identify surroundings and develop situational awareness using a chart (paper or electronic) is a skill every pilot MUST have. The Private ACS acknowledges this in the pilotage/ded reckoning segment by saying flight must be accomplished by reference to the "magnetic direction indicator."

The decision to use or not use things like GPS/ForeFlight really comes down to the particular student. In general, I've always started cross country training by teaching the nav log and using pilotage/ded reckoning. If a student asks about ForeFlight I will introduce that into the cockpit as well. Problems come up when the student shows they are over-relying on the tablet/GPS. Often times I've seen students hunt for things like frequencies or runway lengths by tapping around in the app, when a simple look at the chart would be quicker and limit head down time. When pilots have a sophisticated tool but don't know how to use it or use it the wrong way, it makes flight less safe, not more safe.

All this is to say that teaching navigation is a balance between stressing out-the-window technique and technology assisted flying. If a student shows difficulty relying solely on pilotage, it's time to bring technology into the cockpit. But if pilots are going off without the skill of orienting themselves by outside reference, they've been shortchanged in their training.

Dan, CFI

View attachment 79708

If students can't explain why the heading can be different from the GPS Track, it may be time to turn off the technology!

Something that basic should not even require a person to be a pilot to answer.
A regular non pilot type should be able to figure it out just using common sense.
As for the reliance on gps, and forgetting how to dead reckon, I every so often turn the gps off and just go with paper charts still. I learned without gps, so consider that normal.