Flight Forum

Wayne Phillips has ignored a great opportunity for aspiring professional pilots by omitting the U.S. military from his list of options ("Wealth of Options: Choosing your educational opportunities," AOPA Flight Training, December 2000). A four-year degree is a prerequisite for being a military pilot, however the military even offers options to obtain that degree. Where else can an aspiring pilot candidate obtain the best flight training in the world and get paid while doing it?

For those who are not enamored with flying for the airlines, the military may be the ticket to a career of high-performance, mission-oriented flying. So you decide not to make the military a career - take that training and fly for pretty much whomever you like with flight experience you obtained courtesy of Uncle Sam. I know of no other organization that has you flying halfway around the world in a multi-million dollar single-seat aircraft a year and a-half after college graduation.

I realize I sound like a recruiter, but I believe you owe it to the aspiring professionals to inform them of the military option. The United States Air Force has been very good to me. In my 15 years of service I have flown the F-16 for three years, the A-10 for 10 years, and recently been qualified in the UH-1 and HH-60G helicopters.

If you can find a better deal than that, take it!

Major Troy Dunn, USAF
Eielson AFB, Alaska

Where Is Your House?

I enjoyed reading the article authored by David Montoya "The ABCs of VORs" (AOPA Flight Training, December 2000). Although this tutorial on VOR fundamentals is well written and easy to understand, I would like to recommend one very important change in the teaching technique it proposes.

With regard to intercepting and flying a radial away from a station, the article states that the CDI will deflect in the direction that the pilot must turn to intercept the desired radial. In other words, if the needle deflects to the left, turn your aircraft to the left. Montoya states later in the article that there are exceptions to this rule, and it sometimes does not work. The "turn toward the needle" method can get you in trouble when the selected radial is 180 degrees off your heading. In this case, as Montoya makes clear, "turn toward the needle" will not work; you will turn in the wrong direction. What if we change our thinking and use a method that is always correct regardless of aircraft heading, course index selection, and CDI deflection?

If I were to ask you, where is your house, would you answer "to the right" or "to the left?" You'd probably say north, east, south, or west. If you use this same language with the VOR, you will always turn your aircraft in the correct direction regardless of aircraft heading, course index selection, and CDI deflection.

There is one simple technique to eliminate the possibility of turning the wrong direction. First of all, stop using the "turn toward the needle" or the radial is "right or left of you" method. Remember, your house is not to the right or left of you. In the example given in the article, course index 90 degrees and direction 270 degrees, look at the heading on the VOR that is 45 degrees "left or right" of the course index to give you the 45-degree intercept angle. In this example, the CDI needle is left, therefore, 45 degrees left of course index 90 is a heading of 45 degrees. If you turn the aircraft to a heading of 45 degrees (northeast), you will intercept the 90-degree radial. The quickest way to get from a heading of 270 degrees to 45 degrees is a turn to the right. Using the method of "turn toward the needle" would tell you to turn left because the needle is deflected left.

Practice this method on paper; use any combination of aircraft heading, course index selection, and CDI deflection. It works every time.

Don Wallenfelsz, CFI
Willoughby, Ohio

Oops, Make That 2,000

Oops! In my response to Tom in January's "Since You Asked" column, the correct distance is 2,000 feet horizontally from a cloud, not 1,000 feet. My mistake. Sorry about that.

Rod Machado

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