X-Plane 12 - Wayfinding without Electronics - Pilotage | C172 Falwell (W24) to Ingalls Va. (KHSP)

[@jeffwells1810]

Well I did it and had so much fun. I started from my home airport KFVX (Farmville), and caught up with the James River near Scottsville, Va which is east of Lynchburg. I also flew the flight in Linux using the LR Cessna 172 (analog). Did about the same path, when I got to Glasgow, did a heading of 350 and found I-81. Took that to I-64. I-64 makes a NW heading between Longdale and Clifton Forge. I was able to see Ingalls field on top of the mountain. I came in high the first time. Did a go around and nailed the second time. From the XP-Store I downloaded two things that helped me a lot. USA VFR Radio and TV antennas and USA VFR Cell Towers. Both seemed to match with the sectional charts. I used three monitors, one with xplane, one with Skyvector and one with google earth. I found on this flight, the sectional would show something like a power plant, but xplane would usually show something that looked like bare ground or a field. By trying to keep Skyvector and Google earth synced up, It gave me confidence to feel like I knew where I was on the chart. I would see a patch of ground in xplane and verify it looks like that structure on google earth. If it matched what the chart said it was, I was good to go. Can't thank you enough for creating this video. Now let's see, can I get from KHSP to 2NC0 ?????

[@VirtualAviationAviator]

On the sectional chart, I mistakenly thought the airport was called Ingallis, rather than Ingalls. Flying VFR with pilotage is a lot of fun. I'll have to do more of it. I didn't know about the USA VFR Radio and TV antennas and USA VFR Cell Towers add-ons. I'll definitely have to check those out. I'm glad XPlane and Linux is working out for you. Keep the blue portion up.

[@lpappas474]

A friendly heads up, upon liftoff you will want to establish the recommend climb airspeed of 74 Knots (known as Best Rate Vy climb air speed) for the Cessna 172. After gaining several hundred feet Cessna recommends a climb airspeed between 75 - 85 knots. Most pilots will use an airspeed of 85 knots, also known as cruise climb, which provides better visibility over the nose and better engine cooling. When setting the directional gyro while on the runway keep in mind the runway heading. This will help in miss reading the wet compass. Hope you find this information helpful. Regards

[@VirtualAviationAviator]

Thank you for the tip. A good (sim) pilot is always learning.

[@jeffwells1810]

I think of all the videos you've done, this is my favorite. I wanted to do the same with the VFlyteAir Cessna 150 trainer, but I got frustrated not seeing the landmarks xplane doesn't show. I am going to try again using your approach and see if I get better results. I plan on replaying your video on one monitor and displaying Skyvector VFR charts on another monitor to follow along more closely and see what you are seeing and explaining. I am glad you were able to do a video of the airports I suggested and take in the mountain scenery. It gives a different perspective flying alongside the mountains instead of being thousands of feet above them. Great job and thank you for your input explaining your thoughts and reasoning during the creation of this video. It has helped me a lot.

[@VirtualAviationAviator]

Let me know how it goes. I did a 2nd flight, same airports, and found KHSP a 2nd time. Oddly, I flew a different path - I found highway 64 and followed it. Again, finding the airport felt more like luck than skill. It's a really fun challenge.

[@tf51d]

This is why you can't use X-plane for VFR navigation! Would be interesting to see how you'd make out with this flight in MSFS?

[@VirtualAviationAviator]

On the contrary. It's just a lot harder in X-Plane. I gotta admit that finding the airport had an element of luck. I hope to eventually do a similar flight with MSFS. Thanks for commenting.