Learning to Fly: Getting Lost (Part 1)

Yeah..and...?...tell me tell me tell me...I hope you didn't have any cats on board.
Quick tell us...I'll be worrying all night now...
I've just been reading about the early RAF in WWI, and WWII, they often got lost after dog fights and landed at strange airfiels...or farmland.

Del

I one time rushed my preflight and somehow got on the wrong VOR radial on my way from FLL, (Fort Lauderdale) to FMY? (Fort Meyers), had a girlfriend over there.

Further I was signed off for the Cross Country, but decided to do it at night. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do it at night, but that's what I did.

Somewhere along the way I recognized I was further north than I was supposed to be.

If you've ever seen the movie 1941, you may recall John Belushi attempting to read his Sectional map and fly at the same time, and not doing too well at it.

I figured I could just keep flying West till I hit the Gulf, and then turn South, but this would add time that I really couldn't afford. Had to call Control and admit I was a "little lost".

In this sort of situation it is nice to have a working transponder, for Control asked me to squawk ident, and then gave me a heading. Awfully nice of them, I thought.

They didn't yell at me or anything.

Another time I got lost because for some reason I didn't believe my instruments, but it was daytime, and I worked that out on my own.

P.S. It probably is a good idea to keep a working flashlight in the plane, interior lighting for some of these little planes is not that great.

I've never been an aviation type; my only flying experience has been in commercial passenger aircraft and a couple of helicopter rides. But I do have a reasonable sense of direction and can read and understand maps and charts pretty well.

My home town is a little suburb south of San Jose, CA,; so I know the city pretty well. I can't tell you how many times I've flown into or out of there, looked down from 2000 or 3000 feet thinking I knew exactly what road or area I was looking at and found I was completely wrong. Same with watching the landscape from 30K feet going cross country. Lately I've even gotten lost on Google Earth and had to dig out a roadmap and try to match the highway traces between the two.

Yup!! it sure looks different when you are looking down instead of out of a car window.

Ed Weldon

Hi Ed,

Thank for the Bonneville briefing. Maybe I can give you a ride next year in the airplane and get an airborne view of Bonneville. Remind me when it is so that I can schedule it... Thanks again.

It is called "dead reckoning" and every pilot should be good at it. You make a moving map in you mind and check off points and triangulate to your position. As you fly you need to make the world match your map, and if it does not, then you need to find key points (two or more) and relocate where you are.

I enjoy it because it helps me remember what I am flying over. It puts it in context, and I can then see it on the map and go back.

The easy way is to use the VORs and tune into two you think you are near, center the needle on two and presto...you are on the cross of the vectors. Not that hard actually...

Seaplaneguy

Hi..

Getting lost, yes it's very difficult more so when you are flying low over water. My first trip over the sea at low level gave me my prangs. It was water water every where ! Just thanks to my stars as i was not at the controls.

Anil

I'll admit to having been lost (briefly) while flying, and it is not a good feeling. If you have nav radios, it is quite easy to find out where you are, but you shouldn't have to rely on them -- so it is disturbing when your dead reckoning skills fail you -- almost always the result of inattention, or focusing on one thing and ignoring another.

Incidentally, if you are told to contact another station, you should do it regardless of need... or explain why you are not doing so, if you have that option. If you are handed off, it causes confusion on the ground if you don't pick up the communication.

The rule is: if ATC says to do something, you darned well better do it, if you intend to get or retain your license.

Every pilot needs to be able to fly IFR (I fly roads). If you were going from Danbury to Pittsfield, you should have had Rte 7 within sight. Unless you were at FL 25, (doubt it),Limerock Race Track, Haystack Mtn. with its stone tower in Norfolk, Canaan Airport (grass strip), Great Barrington Airport, and Butternut Basin Ski Area would have all been easily recognized way-points that can be seen from some distance. That is why these visual aids are listed on the maps.

Don't feel bad, this is half the fun of flying!

Don't feel bad, this is half the fun of flying!

FUN? Sounds like sheer terror, and a skivvy check, to me! But I don't fly. Always wanted to, until now. Maybe not so much, anymore. I'll just keep reading, and enjoying, TinyPilot18's chronicles.

Thank you, young lady, for being willing to let us in on your errors, too. And I'm SSOOOO glad you've survived to tell us.

And then there was the time I was lost, found an airport, but did not know which one. Then I say the water that said NEOSHO, found the airport and radio frequency on the map, and announced my position and landed. After my knees stopped knocking, went to the pop machine, had a Coke, and plotted the rest of the way home to Illinois. Caught a great tailwind, and was able to get back. Dallas area to Chicago area in about 8 hours, total time, including being lost. In a trusty 1978 Cessna 172.

Boy, thanks for bringing back fun memories!

This reminds me of probably my most embarrassing flying moment. I was lost without realizing it, and landed at the wrong airport. Both were the same distance from my departure point, and they were fairly close (I say as an excuse) to the same heading: on a 75 mile flight westward, they were perhaps 5 miles apart north-south. It was night, and minutes before I was pointing out to my passengers how easy it is to see airports from a long way away at night: "See there's our airport right over the nose." (Generally, I was yacking when I should have been flying.) Both airports were small and uncontrolled.

Oh! I just remembered. The unintended airport was off the edge of the sectional I had with me... (that close to the edge, I should have had the next sectional) so I actually had to get out of the airplane to find out what airport I'd landed at! My passengers seemed to take it all in good stride, I think not realizing that this was a very serious mistake with the potential for real danger.

Can't wait to hear the end of this one.

Back in the day (60's) a highway map was standard carry along equipment, by demand of my CFI. As someone noted, IFR (my version, I Follow Roads) was imperative when everything else went wrong. Nowadays I would also include a hand held gps (with spare batteries). Inexpensive life insurance and imperative if you ever get caught on top.

Hooker

I thought the phrase was really "I follow Railroads."

Well I guess you can figure its all the same difference, they go somewhere.

Guess the advantage with roads is that you can land on them if you really have to.

I was told that when flying at night over Florida, should the engine fail, head for the darkest spots, as they are likely to be water, and not trees.

I remember my hero pilot once joking about how a Controller had told him to turn right to an West heading for a left traffic landing on 9 left at FLL when he saw Sunrise Blvd.

"How'd he know I could tell Sunrise Blvd, from Powerline!

P.S. The addition of TinyPilots blog to this forum has been a bright spot for me, and I really really hope she gets to fly bigger, better, and faster planes. Nevil Shute once wrote there are two great things to do, fly and sail. - or something to that effect. Maybe it was just boats and planes. Anyway, I was pretty happy at the airport regardless, myself.

In almost 22 years of hang gliding I had to review a map enough to call it memorization when setting goals to fly past the horizon and kept an eye on the landmarks. I had a simple ball compass to use to semi-guide wobble and level me out of the white out of climbing too high into clouds. Now days one can buy a medium priced phone with GPS - what's the hubbub, Bub?