Speed Distance Time Calculator

[Nigel H-J]

Since getting VR to fly in X-Plane I have been using mainly light aircraft or light twins so as to enjoy the scenery more by flying around 1,000 - 2,000ft.

I am also starting to try my hand at visual navigation with Orbx True Earth instead of relying on VOR's and ADF's unless I really get lost!!!

One thing that I found was missing is a speed/distance and time calculator, my maths is not brilliant and I don't own a flight calculator to plan my routes but found the next best thing and wonder whether it may be handy for others here, it is free to use but one sticking point is that you still have to take into account wind, don't know whether any-one here knows of a utility that can be used for wind deviation? I am using Little Navmap which is extremely good flight planner and found a way round to plan a route and distance by instead of selecting a departure airfield as you would normally and plan a triangular route back to the same airfield (which for some reason you cannot do with Little Navmap) I have found a way to do it and give the distance and heading from one point to another. Right click on the mouse and select Measure Distance from XXX Airport then click on the first turning point say a town and that gives the first segment of your flight in distance then repeat the same for the next turning point so you can do a triangle navigation sortie departing and arriving back at the same airfield. Certainly makes it more fun to try it out and monitor how well or bad you do!!

It can be done in mph or knots.
https://www.timecalculator.net/speed-di ... calculator

Regards
Nigel.

[Steve M]

Most GPS will give a course to steer to reach a waypoint to compensate for wind drift but for manual navigat6ion the only way to do it is either using a flight computer with the rotating scale as supplied by the likes of Pooleys or good old fashioned dead reckoning navigation on a chart with a pencil and plotter to draw your wind vectors and add them to your speed distance in reverse to get a course to steer to your destination and ETA.

[Nigel H-J]

Well, out of curiosity I thought I would give it a go and made a flight plan from Wickenby to fly over Strubby Airfield hdg 091deg 18.7 miles at a speed of 100kts it should take 9mins 45 secs my actual time was 30 secs late but arrived directly overhead, the wind was 7kts at 075degs, OK so there was little wind but it was still a challenge. At Sutton-on-Sea turning to Skegness Airfield on hdg 171deg 8 nm 4mins 10 secs, from there it was direct to Horncastle in which I found myself about 2 miles off track then direct back to Wickenby and arrived overhead on time for that leg.

Any-one who knows Lincolnshire will also know that it can be challenging to navigate as there are very little towns and many villages and hamlets so this navigation exercise was for me a bit of a triumph.

Now enjoying a well deserved pint of Lager!!

Regards
Nigel.

[Nigel H-J]

Most GPS will give a course to steer to reach a waypoint to compensate for wind drift but for manual navigat6ion the only way to do it is either using a flight computer with the rotating scale as supplied by the likes of Pooleys or good old fashioned dead reckoning navigation on a chart with a pencil and plotter to draw your wind vectors and add them to your speed distance in reverse to get a course to steer to your destination and ETA.

Thanks for the info Steve, it was 40 years ago since I last used a flight computer and that was only once when I flew from Wickenby Airfield in the Seventies with John Harris on a nav exercise and to be honest, if I were to try and use one now I would be a bit lost!!

Regards
Nigel.

[Airspeed]

I'm glad that you're enjoying this aspect of flying, Nigel.
I used to enjoy the ATC exercises using the right angle triangle.....jeepers, that was LONG ago

[adysmith]

I have a spreadsheet to work it all out, input your desired track and airspeed, the forecast wind, and hey ho it calculates your heading and groundspeed.

If I can still find both it is available in both Excel and Open Office formats.

[Scorpius]

This is how we used to do it:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ca ... &FORM=VIRE

A long task.

Then there is this used by aerobatic pilots:

https://britishaerobaticacademy.com/nav ... ate-drift/

Or as one pilot said (and I tend to use this)

'It's taken me a year or so after getting my PPL to realise that the secret is... don't bother doing it accurately!

You soon get a "feel" for what correction to make. These days I generally take my pick of crosswind corrections... it's either 0 degrees, 5 degrees, 10 degrees, or maybe 15 degrees. Any more than that and I start thinking "why am I flying today?".

Sometimes I get it exactly right, sometimes wrong by up to five degrees. But once you turn onto a leg, you should have a feel within a minute or two whether your heading is looking right, and if it's not then just make a little correction here and there. You'll never be all that far out at most GA speeds.

The amount of care I take is inversely proportional to the visibility as well. In 6-7K vis I'll take a bit more care, but if it's nice and clear I'm happy to just point the aircraft in vaguely the right direction and fly!'

The RAF draw chinagraph lines 10 degrees either side of headings on maps for fast jets, for GA you can use 5 degrees.

I expect Dave to be along soon to tell me off!

Nev

[Nigel H-J]

I have a spreadsheet to work it all out, input your desired track and airspeed, the forecast wind, and hey ho it calculates your heading and groundspeed.

If I can still find both it is available in both Excel and Open Office formats.

Now that sounds like my sort of planner Adrian...Easy way to do it, if you do still have it I can assure you that it will be well used!!

You soon get a "feel" for what correction to make. These days I generally take my pick of crosswind corrections... it's either 0 degrees, 5 degrees, 10 degrees, or maybe 15 degrees. Any more than that and I start thinking "why am I flying today?".
Sometimes I get it exactly right, sometimes wrong by up to five degrees. But once you turn onto a leg, you should have a feel within a minute or two whether your heading is looking right, and if it's not then just make a little correction here and there. You'll never be all that far out at most GA speeds.

The amount of care I take is inversely proportional to the visibility as well. In 6-7K vis I'll take a bit more care, but if it's nice and clear I'm happy to just point the aircraft in vaguely the right direction and fly!

When I started the flight last night I did not expect to be anywhere near the turning points hence my elation when my navigation was quite close, I had made a late turn from Skeggy to Horncastle and saw it to my 2 O' Clock about 4 miles away, but overall happy so will start to go further next time.

When I did fly for real in the Beagle Pup and John handed me the controls for nav exercises after getting airborne I always looked down at the leading edge nearest to the cockpit and only took a short time for me to determine how much drift the aircraft had and corrected until going straight, well strait in terms of the nose being around a couple of degrees from actual heading, found that much better than trying to work out wind drift on paper but it did seem to work.

I expect Dave to be along soon to tell me off!

Delete your post before he sees it as I have read and understood all you wrote!!

Regards
Nigel.

[Scorpius]

I expect Dave to be along soon to tell me off!

Top tip thanks Nigel!

[Nigel H-J]

I have found a great way to save my flight plan for use in Avitab which is something more than just a knee board.

I have made another triangular flight plan starting and finishing at Wickenby.

This is the completed flight plan in Little Navmap.


Then saved it as 'Save Map as Image Below


Now all Ihave to do is open it up in Avitab and I have my map and able to watch out for land marks, railways, towns and villages. It is not a moving map nor does it show my aircraft in flight so a really handy utility having Avitab.

Made larger so you can see.


Regards
Nigel.