Flight Training - October 2014 - 39

Choose points that are distinct and
easily identified from a distance. For
instance, when selecting a lake as a
checkpoint in Minnesota-which is the
land of 10,000 lakes-keep in mind that
one lake might resemble the many other
lakes along the route of flight. However,
Mille Lacs Lake is a massive 200-squaremile lake in central Minnesota, making
it easily distinguishable from the surrounding area.
Some areas might lack distinguishable
checkpoints, so selecting other points
that might not be on the planned route
of flight, but are within five to 10 miles,
could give you a clue that you missed
your point or are off course. These are
known as catching, limiting, or funneling
features.
Navigating across deserts or farmland
can be difficult at times because of the
lack of contrast, so including a catching feature such as a major highway or
river on your flight plan could prevent
you from becoming lost. Like rivers,
ridgelines or a series of hilltops are easily
identifiable from the air. These terrain
points make ideal funneling features that
assist in finding the checkpoint. Perhaps
a small pond is the only water along the
route segment, but surrounding trees
make it difficult to find the point. During
the planning you notice that there are
several hills close to the pond, so you
make a mental note that aids in locating
the checkpoint. You don't have to fly over
a checkpoint to use it; simply flying in
the vicinity is just as good. I have used a
checkpoint that was three to five miles
off of my route, and I was able to use it to
navigate successfully.
Hazard identification is just as important when choosing a good checkpoint.
While you are selecting checkpoints,
remember to scan two to three miles on
either side of the route of flight for any
hazards that could pose a risk. Hazards
include not only towers and power lines
but also special-use airspace such as
restricted areas and military operations
areas. Although civilian aircraft can operate in MOAs, pilots need to be aware that
they may be used for maneuvering flight at
high speeds and unpredictable altitudes.

Most of the training is see and avoid, but the workload
on aircrews sometimes makes aircraft detection difficult. Highlighting hazards in red on a chart is a great
technique for quick orientation during the flight. During
night flights, remember that red markings will not be
visible if a red light is utilized to preserve night vision.
Map preparation and risk analysis are the final steps
to successful planning. Map preparation is the actual
creation of your route on the charts that you intend to
use during the flight. In order to differentiate specific
points, various shapes are used to indicate departure,
destination, and checkpoints. Use the baseball home
plate symbol to distinguish the departure location,
while an equilateral triangle for the destination enables
a distinguishing reference when a quick glance is
needed. This enables reference without marking over
any information such as frequencies.
There is a fine line between including too much
information and too little. A good balance that usually
works is insertion of doghouses. This is a technique
military pilots use to note time, distance, and heading
on charts without having to dig through navigational
logs for the info, thus streamlining cockpit management. A doghouse is usually just as it sounds; the
information is written inside with the magnetic heading at the top followed by the distance and time. The
doghouse always points in the direction of flight. I
simplify this by drawing a simple arrow with the information stemmed from the long axis.
Some final considerations to keep in mind might
include the season, time of day, and weather. Lakes and
rivers might be easier to see during the fall and winter
versus the summer, because of foliage on the trees. In
the desert, winter usually is the wet season, so what
appears to be a river on a chart could be a temporary
river or a body of water that is not always present.
Time of day also influences what pilots can see from
the air. Late-day flights into the sun make it difficult
to locate checkpoints because of glare. This causes
increased fatigue. Weather has the same effect. Instead
of focusing most of our attention on navigation, we
could be more concerned with avoiding storms, or the
haze we did not expect is making it difficult to find a
road. Instead of locating the major highway we had
planned on, we see a smaller road that you think is the
highway. The haze reduces your scanning distance.
Navigational flight planning may seem overwhelming. A systematic process enables students to learn
good flight planning techniques. When frustrations and
difficulties associated with cross-country planning are
reduced, the fun element returns to flying.
Matthew Bauman is a fixed-wing and rotorcraft pilot who flies in the
military.
OCTOBER 2014 FLIGHT TRAINING

/ 39

Flight Training - October 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - October 2014