N6399A
Pre-takeoff checklist
Finally bit the bullet and took my PPL written today. Passed it, but I did miss one of the ADF questions. Never really got the ADF thing. ........... but I'll take a 98% any day.
Finally bit the bullet and took my PPL written today. Passed it, but I did miss one of the ADF questions. Never really got the ADF thing. ........... but I'll take a 98% any day.
That's the way it is in parts of MO, too. Our nearest airport has only an NDB approach (if you don't have a GPS) and I spent many, many hours shooting NDB approaches at the airport. It's what I had, and what I learned to use. I like them better than VOR approaches.I feel sorry for all you ADF impaired pilots. Without a GPS its a pretty critical piece of equipment around here. Most of the small airports have NDBs on the field in iowa.
It's only good for listening into to baseball games when you're flying.
WTG Sherri.
I dont need ADF, I have xm radio in my plane.
If you have one of the rotating-card ADF's, you can use that to count landings too.
Congrats Sheri!
Great score Sheri!
I've got to take my written in the next two weeks.
Where did you take it?
Actually I kind of like it. For one thing, there are far more NDBs than VORs around here. Tune in two and take a bearing, draw two lines on the chart and "you are here."
Congrats
1. ADF is very important - it's very convenient if you want to listen to music during long flights
Finally bit the bullet and took my PPL written today. Passed it, but I did miss one of the ADF questions. Never really got the ADF thing. ........... but I'll take a 98% any day.
It surprises me that so few people use them.
While they are not useless, they aren't all that precise. It is just the old technology. For me, it would just be more useless weight in the plane. That is, like Bob said, until the ball season starts.
If you have one of the rotating-card ADF's, you can use that to count landings too.
Wonderful!Negative, use the frequency knobs to cound the landings. 000, 001, etc.
Wonderful!
I knew there had to be a use for the adf.
What makes them not as precise? Are the ADF antennas prone to more error than a VOR? If so, is it enough to be significant? It must not be that bad, as NDBs can be relied upon for instrument approaches.
From much reading and simulator time, it appears to me than an ADF gives you just as much information as a VOR head. They both tell you your bearing to/from a station, no more no less. Better yet, NDBs don't require line-of-sight reception, like VOR stations do.
You all should know better than I; I'm not even a pilot yet. I won't understand the pure practicality of the technology until I've experienced it myself. It just appears as though ADF's primary flaw is that it isn't as idiot-proof as VOR. It's not set-and-forget.
Thoughts?
Mostly due to the lower frequency range the NDB signals use. Its not that they are particularly difficult to use, but shoot an NDB approach and you can still be way off.
Would I still use NDB? If that's all I had. It works, but I feel it is more for bragging rights now that you know how to shoot an NDB approach.
The problem is after years of shooting ILS's and now GPS approaches, you have the preconcived notion that an instrument approach is supposed to line you up perfectly with the runway. This is blashpemy. An NDB (and VOR) approach is NON precision. think of it as getting shot out of a shotgun barrel.
The problem is after years of shooting ILS's and now GPS approaches, you have the preconcived notion that an instrument approach is supposed to line you up perfectly with the runway. This is blashpemy. An NDB (and VOR) approach is NON precision. think of it as getting shot out of a shotgun barrel. No you wont come straight out, but you'll be within an acceptable range. Really its just to get you low enough to get out of the clouds, and generally headed towards the airport, you figure the rest out.
Negative, use the frequency knobs to cound the landings. 000, 001, etc.
My instructor said an ILS approach is like getting directions right to the street address of where you're going.
A VOR approach gets you to the town.
An NDB approach gets you to the county.
Finally bit the bullet and took my PPL written today. Passed it, but I did miss one of the ADF questions. Never really got the ADF thing. ........... but I'll take a 98% any day.
Finally bit the bullet and took my PPL written today. Passed it, but I did miss one of the ADF questions. Never really got the ADF thing. ........... but I'll take a 98% any day.