Kevin, I remember getting temporarily disoriented once on a cross country from OWB and discovering my position reading the name on the Hazard Ky, water tower. It was easy learning to fly on the coast of Maine with land over here and ocean over there. How about taking off with the hood on and using the turn and slip to stay on the runway. My first instructor had a 4 digit CFI #.
When our daughter was learning how to fly our Cub, I insisted on no electronic navigation devices being allowed on her cross-country flights, both dual and solo. She did have the use of an analog whiz-wheel, plotter. sectional charts. and a portable comm radio. Of course, the Department of Defense owns our GPS system. They essentially can scramble the signal or turn the system off whenever they deem it necessary. I"m afraid some pilots forget that fact
After she got her private pilots certificate, she was taught about the use of the ForeFlight app and Stratus device in depth. They are wonderful tools and without a doubt increase safety, but I think students should have a grasp on the fundamentals of navigation before using them.
Every September our EAA Chapter hosts our Mail Run Challenge where teams have to flight plan a route they just received that morning, fly the route gathering proof of arrival, and return. All with just compass and paper sectional. They are awarded points based on deviations from predicted time and fuel consumption. Lowest score wins bragging rights and a traveling trophy for the year.
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After graduating high school in 1976 I flew the 1947 Luscombe that my dad an I purchased that summer from the little grass strip near my home in Denver to Freeway Airport near Bowie, Maryland and back using only pilotage and landing at uncontrolled airports. The plane came equipped with a Narco VHT-3 “coffee grinder” radio with only 3 crystal controlled transmit frequencies, but it had died long ago. At my first fuel stop, I asked where I might find lunch and was shocked when they offered me the use of their Ford “parked out back. The keys are in it.” Reading town names on water towers proved effective, but CHRYSLER Kansas threw me. It was a small town but sure had a lot of fancy new cars!
Back in the days when GPS was fiction and Loran C was very cool, my partner in a Cherokee wanted to travel from Detroit to Boston. I got a call from him the afternoon of the night flight to scrub because the shiny new Loran broke. Our trip was planned long the north shore of Lake Erie, fuel in Niagara Falls, NY, then pretty much east to Hanscom Field. Then I would continue on to Maine. I pointed out the weather was clear, Lake Erie was easy to follow, and it is hard to miss lands end. The first leg went well and we found IAG. For the second leg, I switched off the ADF, and the KX-170B nav receivers. Partner said, how you gonna get there? I pointed out on the sectional, that the course took us right down the center of the Finger Lakes, there were big bright cities at each end of each lake and Albany at the end and then the Mass Pike took us right past Hanscom. After I dropped him, we continued on to Maine finding PWM by following the ocean down east and turning up the river, just like the sailing days of old. It was a fun trip and I’d do it again today, the same way, but with a faster airplane.
DO to unfortunate circumstances I stopped flying 12 years ago. I was trained in the early 2000s in a citabria 7ECA by a one Mickey Holton at TOA. One my long cross country I landed at French Valley. As I was on final A ground call came on common announcing take off intention. I got on the mic and stated I was on final. the CFI called in Will hold but you seem High expecting go around. I replay negative on go around. Care to lose 10 buck? Made a bet to lad within 50 feet on the numbers. Had the usual Rainbow gap cross wind, Slipped the plane hard and landed just in front of the numbers. Pulled over to get a signature. As I was existing the bird. He came up to see this antique and showed his student what he called a partial panel. it was very bare. one nav/com, tach, ASI, Altimeter, turn and bank, whiskey compass, clock, VOR head. He said that was a great landing. I thanked him took the tenner and when I asked for his autograph he was taken aback as for my age (early 50s ) he did not think I was a student. Simple planes are fun, challenging to navigate but I only know that way.
I’ve always thought pilotage was fun. I still cheat with a GPS but it’s fun to draw lines on the chart and find your way there and back.
“Maybe this very basic navigation training is not that important, but maybe it is.”
No doubt it was an eye opener. Whether or not is is important, if it accomplished nothing more than being an eye opener it was still valuable.
What is important as established by high altitude upsets resulting in tragedy over the years but prominent recently is the very basic ability to recognize when hand flying needs to supercede automation along with the ability to then fly manually.
Great story and great training. I flew from Austria to northern Germany in a touring motorglider with my still fresh private license at age 17 ½ and managed to get lost only once. I was used to freeways and train lines being reliable and easy to spot landmarks but overflying the Ruhr area were one town begins were the other ends there were just too many to be useful anymore. Thanks to a VDF bearing from flight information service I regained my bearings, identified the correct freeway and continued to my destinations. Haven’t done that in a while but it sure makes sense to know how to do it. Due to the Ukraine war there’s a lot of GPS spoofing going on over here and if you don’t have an IRS and enough surrounding systems to let you know your GPS needs to be ignored all those great navigation gadgets and apps quickly become ballast.
There are many factors which could render GPS navigation unavailable, and only some of them are inside the airplane. Every pilot should know how to complete a flight in the face of an unexpected technology outage!
My first instructor, an amazing fellow with 20000 hours of instruction time, had me do all my training on a '63 172 with original avionics. Once I got my license we moved into a G1000 aircraft, but those steam gauges and eyeballs are my foundation.
There are devices that complicate even a compass. until replaced with whiskey compass my plane had a vertical card compass, never figured out how you’d know if it was working or not, at least with a whiskey compass the mechanical part is basic, floating=good, aground (low fluid)=bad.
…and I’m not sure how a $$ glass cockpit software driven “ball” is better than a bb.
On my first “solo” in an F-111, as we popped into the clouds at about 1000 feet, the attitude indicator/ heading indicator and the standby heading completely failed. I bragged to the very experienced WSO that I could needle, ball and airspeed us back to the runway if required. As I rolled into a left turn to remain near the airport I noticed that the turn needle was dead, as well. We popped down a sucker hole over the lake and flew visually back to the airfield for an uneventful landing. Solo mission complete( about 8 minutes).
Kevin- Wonderful lessons for any pilot. I learned in a Luscombe 8A with no radios and no starter. Your article brought back great memories and an appreciation of skills that are still there when I need them. We flew our Cessna across the country two years ago. A moving map display on my iPad and a stack of Sectionals and plotter on the other side. My co-pilot (and wife) knew where we were just by pilotage and often covered up my screen and asked, “So where are you now, big shot?” and smiled.
Love this. Not only is it a great lesson, but it is just “plane fun” to do it. I remember starting my primary flight training in the early 2000’s, when we had early GPS and all those tools. But, I was one of those guys who always loved being able to figure out the landmarks all around Houston when on a commercial flight, and doing it from the seat of a slow moving Cessna 152 was even more cool. Even on cross country flights in my Saratoga today, I love being able to just look out the window and know where I am by picking out the various lakes and highway interchanges. GPS may have improved safety and allowed more direct routing, but it has certainly removed a lot of the fun of flying.
I started my PPL in the mid 90’s in a Piper Tomahawk that was nothing but basic. No GPS, just VORs, sectionals, and (to give a little help) a Sporty’s calculator.
I learned out of Peter O’Knight in Tampa and first I thing noted flying around there was how flat, green, and same the land looked from the air. Armed with my written flight plan and sectional marked with timed checkpoints we (first CC) did the round trip hitting the checkpoints, dialing in the VORs like it was easy.
Second CC was a bit more complicated, Home Airport to Ocala to St. Petersburg (over flight) then back to home base. I had again done all the homework, had all the checkpoints written down, VOR checks and was feeling pretty cocky taking off from Ocala.
Then I got lost. Simple as that.
I thought I had the picture, but somehow, I got distracted, I got behind the plane, but having missed two checkpoints and not saying anything to my instructor (who had just sat there not saying a word) he finally asks “You know where you are?” I felt almost sick saying “No I don’t” thinking I had just blew my chance to be a pilot.
Mark then looks right, points and says “What that way out there?” It was the Gulf. Then he points to two other things asking me “what is that?” which I told him so he says, “Now, figure out where you are”. Glances at the chart, glances at the ground ensued and a few moments later I put my finger on the chart and “said I am here, going this way”.
Right answer, because his final input to this mess was “Navigate to your next checkpoint and lets get back on course”. Later he also told me he was going to let me go solo next, but decided one more duel to see if I learned my lesson.
That I did and my fourth CC was solo 
Having all this nice shiny electronic screens is nice, but having come up somewhat old school, if I were still flying I think I’d still write the plan down, have all the important numbers on a sheet in front of me and keep looking for those checkpoints on the sectional. Batteries die, electronics fail, but paper, a a watch and a compass…they don’t. (not say I’d turn down fancy, I’d see it as varification, not primary).
(As a side note, I also never had a chance to fly with an autopilot. Learning to trim out the plane to maintain altitude with just occasional trim touches was tough, but satisfying. When you can’t afford it, you work with what you got)
Trng to be USN Tacair NFO (think Goose, but better looking and not dead), got to do a recheck when went too far crosstrack, hoped a watertower would save me but obstruction symbol obliterated town name on chart…go figure. Expectation was time ticked stripcharts, hdg, airspeed, wind estimates all at 500’ over swamps and pine forests of SE in hot-rodded Citations, T-2/TA-4s would get you to an intersection of 2 dirt roads or a single wide.
Proudly winged and flying with new fleet crew from NW to Fallon NV on low level (420kias, ~200’), dutifully called out each two track rut or drainage cut, after a few minutes of my finest trng command narration my salty senior LT pilot said “give me the #%^*-ing chart”…looked at it, pointed 40 miles down range (about 5 mins ete), pointed at my turnpoint on stripchart (mtn peak) slapped me on the helmet with it and said “I think I can get there from here”…first of many clue-birds I found that tour…every once in a while I still find one.
Amen, brother. At the very least leave it on and tuned to 121.5 so you avoid a surprise F-16 wingman. That happens too darn often where I live in Delaware.
Kevin I enjoyed reading your piece this week. You filled my mind with memories of past flying and the joys of looking out the windshield. In 1972 I purchased a SeaBee in Ohio and flew it to Utah where I was going to school. I would fly for a couple of hours without paying too much attention to precise navigation but basically put the “W” foremost into my view…if I looked at the compass. When the fuel gauge got down to about 1/4 tank I would look for a water tower to fine tune my position and head for the nearest airport to refuel. It was a delightful way to see the country and sniff the flowers along the way. Over the years of my Part 121 flying I would much prefer flying a visual approach in a Boeing than crossing ILS needles. Today I help crew a DC-3 and while we have the latest electronic navigation (don’t want to bust unfamiliar Class B or TFR airspace) I still prefer to mostly look out the windshield.
I was a CAP cadet back in the '60s. At the time, we would receive credit for four of the study packages if we passed the Private Pilot written. Each package was, basically, a stripe, so I could go from a Cadet Airman to a Cadet Master Sergeant.
So, a week after my 15th birthday, I took the written. Didn’t have a flight computer. Calculated everything by hand. For the wind triangles I went SERIOUSLY old school…had a protractor and a ruler, and solved them that way.
Got a 70%…the minimum passing score. My nemesis in the cadet squadron quit when he learned I was jumping him by four ranks.
The written test was only good for two calendar years. Since I took at just after my 15th birthday, it would expire not long after my 17th. As it turned out, I was unable to take the Flight Test in that narrow time span, and had to re-take the written. With an E6B this time, it was a lot easier.
I learned to fly on a CAP Citabria where the only gyro instrument was a turn-and-bank. This made precision turns under the hood difficult, since (of course) the whiskey compass would either turn too slow or too quickly, depending on which way you were turning. My instructor taught me some rules-of-thumb for predicting the actual heading, depending on what directly we were turning. Never used them since…
The charts are hard to work with too. I can’t pinch to make them smaller or do the other thing to make them bigger!
I haven’t done that with airplanes, but when I ran marathons, our running club would hold “predictor races,” where we had to leave our watches and estimate our finishing time. The person who got closest, no matter how fast or slow they ran, won.
We do something similar in the horse carriage driving world.
Fun stuff.
I see your point about them not being on the sectional, but the whole purpose of the exercise is to get the pilot to look outside the cockpit. The airplanes are clearly depicted on your windows.
As a Forward Observer and Fire Direction Controller in Vietnam in 1965, and later as a student pilot on my way to becoming a flight instructor, I learned to be on target and navigate using charts, a magnetic compass, pilotage, and dead reckoning—no GPS, just effective planning and good calculations. Pilotage and dead reckoning not only sharpen situational awareness but also build real confidence in a pilot’s abilities. I’ll never forget my first solo cross-country in 1966, from Zamperini Field to Hemet-Ryan—a 39-minute flight in a Cessna 150. I arrived on time, thanks to charts, wx preflight, landmarks, an E6B, a timer, and a pencil. No magenta line to guide me back then.
Even in today’s GPS-driven world, pilotage and dead reckoning are still essential. They push pilots to master the basics and prepare us for the unexpected when those fancy electronic gadgets decide to take a break. Teaching modern pilots the value of traditional navigation techniques is always a good idea!