Originally Posted by
Senior Skipper
Pretty much all the planes I fly have GPS, but I still plan my flights along the airways and tune my VOR's etc. I pretty much only use the GPS for GS and ete.
Congratulations on your (private?) checkride!
You *should* plan your route along airways in the unlikely event that you go NORDO...that way, ATC and you are on the same page. Oh. And airways give you nifty stuff like terrain clearance and guaranteed nav reception in the event that your GPS goes "eeeeeeek".
Oh, and please don't file airport-direct-airport if you're not "/G". Putting "VFR GPS" in the comments field is (a) dumb and (b) illegal for IFR operations. (Sorry, pet peeve. "N12345, how do you intend to navigate direct KXYZ if you are /A?")
The Twin Bonanza I fly is RNAV-equipped...there's a KNS 80 VOR DME RNAV set installed in the panel. It's relatively useless except as DME—I can't think of any VOR DME RNAV approaches in these parts. Come to think of it I could program it to take me direct to an airport given the radial/distance, but that only gets me to the aerodrome. The matter of "how to get down" can still be accomplished quite readily by VOR and ILS.
That said, there is something nice about getting on the magenta noodle and going to the destination...