Originally Posted by
Ray Blaszak
...One thing I do to help me is find out what radial the airport is from a VOR. I know that in Alaska its almost impossible to lad at the wrong airport because your just so spread out but, when I start flying in the lower 48 Ill use the same technique. For example, Birchwood is 20.6nm on the 260 radial from BGQ VOR. Viola you can use that as a tool... Bottom line don't get discouraged and if needed go back up with your instructor to try and find out what you did wrong. Remember, the most important part of a flight is the preflight planning IMHO.
Ray B
I do what is said in this quote above. As you grow as a pilot you will find the importance of using ALL YOUR RESOURCES. With proper pre-flight planning and using VOR radials and the DME (if available) off the VOR in relation to the destination airport you will have a much better time of getting what you expected. This of course comes with the proper pre-flight planning. Flying the planned route in MS Flight Simulator the night before is a good thing to do as well. Also, if you get lost you can fly to the last VOR and try it again. Just remember, we all have been there before... keep learning from your previous experience to make the next one better.