Weeks 13,14 +15: Radio Navigation And Mock Exams

I think it's about time to write a new post! Apologies for the lack of activity, it's been a rather busy few weeks as we draw towards the end of Module 2.

I thought I'd give a brief explanation of what we've been learning in our last topic of module 2, which was Radio Navigation. In aviation, accurate navigation using navigation aids is essential and simply wouldn't be possible without them! And depending on where we are in the world and what stage of flight we're in, there are a broad selection of nav aids that we'll use to guide us along the flight path.

VORs and DMEs are the main nav aids that aircraft use en route, which we'll tune into on their respective frequencies, giving us a bearing and a distance from the beacons themselves to help determine our position. So for example, a VOR sends out signals allowing aircraft to determine their bearing from the beacon, or how far off their desired track to or from the VOR station they are. Whilst a DME uses what's known as pulse interrogation. The DME station and the aircraft will send radio pulses to each other, and measure the time it takes to transmit and receive them to determine the aircraft's slant range from the DME. Here's a traditional VOR indicator, which nowadays you're more likely to find in smaller aircraft than big jets!

Another side of Radio Navigation was looking at the systems which are used for guiding the aeroplane on final approach and landing. The main system which is used all over the world is known as the Instrument Landing System (ILS). This is a ground-based system which provides both lateral and sometimes vertical guidance for aircraft to keep them on the runway centreline, and the optimum descent path to land on the runway at the correct point. It's usually only used for the approach when flying, but if there's poor visibility, it can be used to to complete the landing automatically without the pilots actually touching the controls! An example of this is in the video below, where the ILS is guiding the aircraft down to the runway, whilst the pilots are monitoring all the instruments to make sure it's all working as it should!

Radio Navigation was very interesting as a subject, but at the same time, it was ENORMOUS. Lots and lots of information to learn about other navigation aids, such as GPS and RADAR. But for the sake of keeping the blog at a suitable length, I though it was best to focus on a few systems rather than all of them or this would start to turn into an essay!

After finishing Radio Navigation we had just over a week to prepare for our Module 2 mock exams, which weren't easy, but thankfully I passed them all with pretty good marks. Since then, it's just been solid revision, so I'm hoping that the real exams on Monday and Tuesday go just as well!