Navigation Systems Flashcards
What are some outside visual references that pilots were forced to reference?
- Pilotage
- Aeronautical Charts
- Dead Reckoning
Explain the term Pilotage
Pilotage involves flying by use of fixed reference points on the ground, usually with reference to aeronautical charts.
Explain the term Aeronautical Chart
In the early 1920s, pilots were common to use road maps available at automobile service stations, which were unsuitable for aerial navigation since they lacked necessary landmark information to accurately navigate from one airport to another.
Later on, the governemnet then developed and printed air naviagation charts specialized for aeronautical naviagation, called Sectional Charts.
Explain the term Dead Reckoning
Dead reckoning is the process of calculating one’s
position by estimating the direction and distance travelled.
What navigation instrument is this and what information it provides?
Airspeed Indicator
Displays airplane airspeed.
What navigation instrument is this and what information it provides?
Attitude Indicator
Displays pitch – the up and down movement of the airplane’s nose.
What navigation instrument is this and what information it provides?
Turn Coordinator
Indicates the direction and the rate of turn.
What navigation instrument is this and what information it provides?
Altitude Indicator
Displays altitude in hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of feet.
What navigation instrument is this and what information it provides?
Heading Indicator
Displays heading on a 360 degree azimuth card, it reflects the aircraft’s magnetic heading during flight.
What navigation instrument is this and what information it provides?
Vertical Speed Indicator
Displays an airplane’s vertical speed during climbs or descents.
What is a Four-Course Radio Range?
It was a radio range that remedy the fact that pilots required 15-20 miles of visibility to be able to fly at night.
Four-course radio ranges soon became the standard and were widely used until the 1950s.
What are Marker Beacons?
They are low-powered radio beacons designed to transmit a distinctive tone that could be perceived by the aircraft as it passed directly overhead, providing a accurate aircraft position to pilots.
Why did Marker Beacons were introduced?
Because four-course radio ranges only provided pilots with bearing and course information, they did not provide any information concerning distance to the station.
What are Non-Directional Beacons (NDB)?
Beacons that transmits omnidirectionally signals from a tranmitter, using low-medium frecuency bands.
The signal strength decreases as the distance from the beacon increases. The pilot’s position is determined by measuring the angle between the direction of the beacon and the aircraft’s heading .
What are Automatic Direction Finders (ADFs)?
Were an advanced technology that was capable of electronically determine the bearing to the NDB and display this information to the pilot.
They were also placed at airports or along instrument-approach paths to assist pilots during those approaches.
NDBs along the final approach are known as compass locators.
