Well...They are pushing for real-world scenario based training.
In the setup, he was under the hood for 30 minutes. He could not follow along. The primary error here, is the student did not look at his compas to reset the gauges. Thanks to this thread, I will never do that
You realize that 20 years ago very few airplanes had GPS and the airspace was just as busy.
Try explaining to the FAA why you just landed at KDCA on a busy afternoon without clearance because your GPS died and you were afraid that everyone's GPS died at the same time.
Better bet - find a known reference point, navigate toward it, and then use pilotage and a chart to figure out where you are, where you're going and come up with a plan.
That is, assuming you don't know where you are to begin with. With GPS, sometimes that is easy to do.
Try explaining to the FAA why you just landed at KDCA on a busy afternoon without clearance because your GPS died and you were afraid that everyone's GPS died at the same time.
Better bet - find a known reference point, navigate toward it, and then use pilotage and a chart to figure out where you are, where you're going and come up with a plan.
That is, assuming you don't know where you are to begin with. With GPS, sometimes that is easy to do.
Funny how I have, and I had a GPS. It said "NO SIGNAL". Interestingly, it never did it before or after.
Should there be?
I'll bet when Jesse's student is done he won't have a problem with it if it happens.
Hopefully most of those pilots have their VFR charts out and won't bust the busy airspace you speak of...I mean, for crying out loud, if you need to avoid airpace, dial in a VOR radial (or cross radials if you're lucky enough to have 2-this will tell you exactly where you are on the chart) and back it up with some rough pilotage if you lose your GPS...
Uhhhh Que?
Does that matter?
Or, even if you only have 1...
There is much missing from this scenario which would affect my answer quite a bit. First how close is the nearest airport. As far as whether it is towered or not, or even in what class it is in I personally do not care. A fire is an emergency, and assuming because you turned off the electricity to the wire causing the fire, and no longer see smoke or smell smoke does not mean the fire has not stopped. Something such as a rag left by you distracted mechanic when he changed your oil last week, or a bird's nest next to the hot wire may be smoldering and ready to flame up and mess up you best made plans. Let's assume the fire is not going to start up again however. Am I allowed to use my trusty hand held I always have next to me and always fully charged. Did I take an extra second to tell ATC what my problem was(though that would have little if any bearing on my decision). How far is the nearest airport. How close is the nearest safe field. Where there is one farmers field there are probably others, as well as possibly some other fields that may be more inviting. How much smoke has stained my windshield making it difficult to see out of the plane. Depending on these answers I would pick either 2 or 3. All else being equal and if the plane is flying otherwise in good shape and there is not much of a difference between the field and the airport, and I have a fairly good idea where the airport is and will not be searching for it for some time I would probably choose 3, with a plan b to land in the nearest field if something happens to make me uncomfortable with looking for the airport. Like I said before, it would not matter to me whether the airport was controlled on uncontrolled, military or nonmilitary, or what class it was. Surely if I landed in a Class Bravo I may get into some trouble but at the end of the day my mantra will always better to face a 709 ride, then a NTSB report. Bottom line, it is my job is to get that plane safely for me and my passengers to the ground, if that means bending some metal well then it sucks to be my plane.
