Aviation Software Specialists

Martin Le Poidevin looks at a way of learning the art of radio navigation in the comfort of your own computer room.

Critics have always said that PC flight sims are, in many ways, nothing like the real thing. But almost everyone agrees they're not a bad way to keep up your instrument navigation skills.

Once upon a time that was a matter of interest only to those with IMC or instrument ratings, but now that the JAR syllabus requires some knowledge of radio navigation, it's becoming important for all pilots.

The Radio Aids Navigation Tutor is a great way of learning and understanding these skills. It's not a flight simulator as such (but it is a 'standalone' - you don't need another flight sim product to use it); instead it's a series of tutorials and exercises which will help you to learn and consolidate your use of the nav instruments in the aircraft. The actually flying (keeping the aircraft upright, at the correct height on the desired heading) is effectively taken away, leaving you to worry about where you are and where you're going.

Once you've learned the techniques involved you can practise using the supplied exercises or by setting up your own 'free flight' sorties. You can customise the cockpit to include all the common raw instruments, including HSI, RMI, EFIS and GPS (oh, yes!). While you're manoeuvring, a chart/map is shown so you can see the effects your course changes are having, but you can also turn the aircraft position indicator off, so that you have to work out your position purely from the aids.

RANT (as it's known) has been around for a few years now, and its latest version (RANT 2000 v2) offers a couple of extras - a GPS link to upload/download routes for practice or analysis, and the new package also includes AERAD charts and plates.

It's a simple idea, but effective. Admittedly by taking away the 'flying aspect' you are making life easier for yourself (in instrument flying navigation is only half the battle - keeping the aircraft under control and talking to ATC add to your workload) but by having the radio nav part of your brain sorted, you'll have mental capacity for the other important things when you get into the sky.

At £90 it's not cheap - but it could save you an hour or more in the air with an instructor!

Radio Aids Navigation Tutor 2000 v2 from Oddsoft costs £89.90. Check for upgrade packages. www.oddsoft.co.uk. Comes with various flying utilities, such as a fully features flight planner and TAF decoder.