Having previously explored some basic navigation skills and the effects of wind, it’s time to start the first legs of a longer flight that will incorporate real-world techniques to allow you to navigate in Flight Simulator with surprising reality and accuracy, no matter from where the winds blow…
This route will take us across northern California and was selected because of the scenic terrain, physical characteristics that allow for uncluttered demonstration of these techniques and the availability of high-resolution Sectional Charts. Our planned route is: Charles Schulz Sonoma Co./KSTS - Gravelly Valley/1Q5 – Ruth/T42 (Figure 1).
I strongly recommend you create this flight plan using the manual planning techniques we explored earlier in the series using the US San Francisco and Klamath Falls Sectional Charts (which are available from the downloads section here or from major file libraries). You can also obtain copies of the leg maps in the download section that you can print out to take along. As an added bonus, the download also includes images of the E6B Flight computer calculations used in this flight to make your introductio…
