Sure, going to hit the gym but I'll see if I can draw it out, unless someone takes care of it by the time I get back.

God damn guys it was something new to me with someone very experienced right there next to me making sure everything still went as planned. Stop being such a dick as if you know it all. The whole "Information is power" and "a pilots license is a license to learn" and all the other crap posted about that stuff is complete BS here.

Someone comes in to ask a question about something they were confused about and didn't completely understand and all you can do is ridicule, talk smack, ect? I mean give me a break. If you can honestly make that statement and not feel like a hypocrite at all then you're the biggest idiot here.... I'd hate to be a captain sitting next to such a cocky, arrogant, pompus, and lets not forget insurmountable FO.

Is your goal really to completely deter anyone from asking a question on something they either have never been taught, never experienced, or can't figure out? Why are you always so rude? What provokes you? You simply getoff on it?

I wasn't think of this in the plane but you can use the 1 in 60 rule. By looking at my distance from the fix on the GPS along with the radial to it I could have calculated at 175nm(where i was initially) to 60nm(where I wanted to go on the fix. 175nm-60nm=115nm difference. Take the radial on the GPS and take difference between it and the radial I'm flying to.

If this is what he's talking about. Of course I'm guessing it's not legal. Though I don't think doing it his way is either lol.

Anyway I got my answer. I'm done here. Thanks I think.

Yes I did. Thanks a lot bro.

Listen bud, you can ask questions all day long about anything you want but when you're out there slinging aluminum through the air is not the time to be making it up as you go. My issues are this:
1. You should have known how to use a basic function of your GPS unit. I taught Garmins from handheld VFR units to the G1000 for several years and believe me, they are good for more than just hitting DIRECT.

2. You should have at least understood that when you file an RNAV equipment suffix (GPS is a form of RNAV) then ATC can and often does assign you direct to random points in space. If you wanted to fly VOR to VOR you should have filed the appropriate code.

3. You put a lot of blind faith in the guy sitting next to you. Just because he has 25 bazillion hours doesn't mean he is capable of ensuring that you are navigating correctly to a random point in space using nothing more than his experience and intuition.

4. When you realized you didn't know how to get there you just winged it. It worked for you this time because the geometry wasn't too different. What if you had been in Rockies instead of the plains of Texas? What if you were non-radar and there was other traffic nearby that you blundered into because you accepted a clearance, which ATC expected you to follow, but were incapable of following accurately.

5. Just because you weren't ever taught something doesn't mean you shouldn't know it. Crack open a book sometime. Namely the Garmin user's manual. If its in your airplane and operable you should know how to use it.

So I'm not just busting your balls for the fun of it. I'm busting your balls because you COULD have endangered yourself and others. Today you got lucky. Simple as that.

I don't think that would be legal because wind could blow you off the desired track and you would have no way of knowing or correcting. Legally you need something that can actually get you there in a straight line...VOR-based RNAV, GPS, or vectors.

I din't mean to give you too much of a ration, just wanted to emphasize the importance of precise IFR procedures. If it makes you feel any better I failed my first CFII oral because I tried to describe a similar technique (for a hypothetical lost comm situation). :o

Slinging aluminum through the air is not the time to learn? What did you do for your private, isntrument, commercial, multi, cfi, ect? Sit in a sim? You trusted someone with only 300 or so hours and you say a guy who's flown since the 60's doesn't know. He had everything under control I was the one that didn't know what was going on. If you can't trust him you can't trust anyone. This was me and a very experience individual. Climb down off the cross there mr high and mighty. You just enjoy being a smart arse and that kind of attitude doesn't belong here in my opinion. How many hours do you have? Why should I trust you flying me around? You say you're busting my balls by making a smug one liner? No you have bad attitude. Forget I ever mentioned anything. I'll pretend there wasn't anything I could never figure out then sit down get online anonymously and play your card.

I said it wasn't the time to make it up as you go. If you can't figure it out at the very least ask ATC for a heading until you CAN figure it out. As I've said before, number of hours doesn't mean squat. I'm willing to bet you have more time than I do but you can't make your GPS do something it is quite capable of with just a few button pushes and knob twists. That fact that I knew how to do it you didn't just goes to show that number of hours is irrelevant. Its what you did with those hours. I'll say it again: you got lucky today. I'm glad you learned something. Hopefully it will keep you out of trouble in the future. I think what irks me the most is the ignorance or disregard (or both) for the precision that operating in the IFR environment requires.

Could calculating your heading and using the DME from the GPS not count? You'd know when you were being blown off course because your DME would change. Kinda like an arc? I'm still 99.99% sure illegal but the curiosity wheels are turning.

So what's the guy getting his IFR rating doing? Yes I didn't know how to do RNAV on the 530. there are two of us. What part of that are you missing? I'm sure there are plenty of things I've done you haven't. Plenty of things I've experienced you haven't. I still don't walk around high and mighty and there is no excuse for smart arse remarks in a thread where someone is here to honestly try and learn something. You still need to grow up. Case closed.