I gave this a lot of thought the other day, and realized that the ADF is a very simple and easy instrument to follow once you fully understand it. The trick is, it was designed to indicate a bearing to the station. Regardless, of which way you flew, it will always point to the station. Therefore, I found it much easier to be concerned with the point of the instrument, or the arrowhead and where it is located. This will tell you two things. First, it will tell you which direction the station is in relation to you at second how many degrees You are off from being aligned to flying directly to or from it. Remember, 90% of the ADF units had a fixed azmuth card. You can do the same procedure with a rotating card but I used to leave it North up just so I wouldn’t have extra work in the cockpit. For example, to make things simple let’s say we’re flying south to north heading 360. We tune the ADF in and identify the station. The bearing pointer points 10° to the left at 350. This is telling you the station is to your left and your 10°, of course. That means you need to turn to the left. How much? Let’s say you want to do a 15° intercept. You turn left 15°, now heading 335. The bearing pointer will indicate 005 because you moved your nose to the left 15°. Continue to fly that heading of 015 until the needle is pointing at 015. When you recover to the right 15° you’ll be directly on course heading 360 to the station. Now, if you remain on a 360 heading and pass the station, the bearing pointer would rotate counterclockwise and settle in 10° left of 180 or 190. Again turn the aircraft left, in the direction of the head of the arrow, 15°, which will make the pointer read 205 and continue to fly until the pointer retreat 15° back to 195. When you turn right tracking away from the station you’re bearing pointer will be directly behind you on 180. Remember this golden rule. Fly in relation to the station. This way you don’t have to remember push and pull. Head tail. Mostly, never refer a bearing as a radial with an NDB. It also does not have reverse sensing. That is another pet peeve with me. There is no such thing as reverse sensing. The instrument doesn’t reverse anything or does it send anything. It points where it is supposed to be. This is known as reverse orientation. The best way to describe. It is holding a map with north up and driving south on the road. Your destination is off to your right according to the map, but in your relation you have to make a left to go that way otherwise you will be going opposite direction of the intended location.
I actually had a NDB approach on my instrument check ride in 1999. Stockton, CA 29R. Like so many others, that approach no longer exists. But I flew it successfully and passed that check ride. It was vectors-to-final and the wind was light that day, so it wasn't too difficult. The plane had a King KR-86 integrated unit on the the right side of the panel, so that was always a bit of a challenge.
A great exercise I do on MS2020 or X-Plane ( more realistic movement of the ADF), is with the classic C-172 is the NDB RWY 4 at KUIN. I only look at the map on the Garmin 530 for situational awareness. I do not use any GPS to fly the approach. I will takeoff from RWY 4 using the autopilot on heading mode and fly the NDB outbound, do the procedure turn and the fly the approach. All this using the ADF only. I know there is really no reason in this day and age to fly this approach, but it is a great skill and just fun to do. Try it both with rotating the azimuth and without. Next add a little wind as well.
Of course you have to have an ADF installed. How else would you listen to the ballgame? 😀 When I was first learning to fly, AM broadcast stations were shown on sectional charts. I think the FAA stopped doing that because too many fools were using their local radio stations to create do-it-yourself NDB approaches. It tended to not end well.
Nice video. Thanks for that. From my experience while training, I firmly believe out of all the instrument flying, QDM n QDR are by far the hardest.VOR interceptions , DME arcs, ILS approaches are easy work compared to this. But we will all get there. Lets go boys n girls!
Way back when I did my instrument rating RMI/HSI's were something you just didn't find in the training planes. In fact most didn't even have movable card ADF's indicators, they were fixed card. A pilot got really good at mentally "overlaying" the ADF bearing pointer onto the DG thus making your own poor man's RMI. No pilot will tell you they miss those days! On my instrument checkride I had to fly a full procedure NDB partial panel (simulated vacuum failure so no AI or DG), just the compass and the ADF needle. I passed but it wasn't my favorite thing to have to do! As my career progressed I was always thankful for having learned to do this without movable card/RMI/HSI, but I wouldn't give up our modern instrumentation for the world! It's A LOT easier to maintain orientation with modern displays doing a lot of the work for you.
This is something I've been trying to get good at, just a fixed card ADF, the biggest issue with that is when you throw in Wind and a holding pattern.. oh man it can get confusing lol, how had you learnt to deal with that situation?
@@michaelpace5356 I might be completely off base here, but I attribute some of the learning to not having moving maps and a bunch of stuff orienting you. You had to learn from the get-go to build a mental picture from the six pack and your paper charts. For me I felt like my brain was forced to fully understand how each instrument contributed to the big picture, both flight instruments and nav. GPS wasn't around and only the best trainers even had DME onboard. We'd time radial crossings to figure out distance from VOR's and such. It worked but is a lot more effort. One of my instructors called it a built in INS! You calibrated position when you took off and just "somehow" kept track of it all through the twists and turns. I can tell you I'm sure as H*** no prodigy or genius. Maybe I got lucky a lot, but all my buddies apparently got lucky too!😁
The RMI (Radio Magnecti Indicator) was the predecessor to the HSI without a CDI indicator. This was a very accurate except for Amelia Earhart. Remember, around sunset and sunrise the radio waves were “bent” and you get erroneous reading. Nearby lightning would cause interference as well. I remember my FAA exam, you had to add heading & bearing to ding magnetic bearing to the station.
Awesome explanation. Thanks! I dont know why but your voice was soooo quiete in this vid even that I´ve increase all my volume setting to max. Thats little bit anoying, but none the less great job. Thanks.
I tried to replicate this exactly on fergonez, but if I want to „pull“ the tail to the right and fly to the right, the tail actually goes to the left. So exactly the opposite as shown here. What am I making wrong? Thanks ins advance for any help
ADF's are cool. They don't just work with beacons. They are AM radios and also cover the complete AM commercial radio band and you can use them (Better ID it first though) like a beacon to get to a general area. GPS is awesome, accurate to within inches...until we go to war and the Space Force derates it and China starts knocking out our constellation. Then your VOR and NDB skills better be ready to go.
OK, here is the ultimate challenge to show on Microsoft flight simulator. Perform the NDB approach using the G 1000. The aircraft does not have an ADF so you have to use the bearing pointer that is located on the HSI. You have to ignore the magenta line and follow the blue line, either the single or double depending if you set the ADF to bearing pointer one or bearing pointer two then have to figure your intercept angle and then fly your bearing inbound or outbound for the approach. if you set the approach up using the GPS, the pointer will match directly in line with the magenta pointer. I usually don’t set a flight plan in the FMS so that I can fly some of these approaches without the use of any map or magenta oval. I have noticed some published VOR approaches that are not in the MS 2000 database. One of them is KFYG for their VOR-A approach. You just have to fly using the approach plate and your instruments. You do not have the ability to follow any magenta course. Using the auto pilot and heading function. This will get you a very accurate approach.
Say you’re heading 220. The card is fixed so you can’t rotate it. The station is to your left and the pointer it either at 045 or 315. You are 45 degrees from the station and turn that much to start tracking to the station. Same for outbound except the pointer is at 135 or 225. Soooo, you want to intercept an approach leg that is 038 degrees for Rwy 4. You fly 45 degrees to intercept and when the pointer is 45 (either left or right) from N or 45 from S (depends is the approach is towards the NDB or from it. They are all bearings, NOT radials.
Great efforts but still very confusing ...i`d recommend doing basic navigation without wind correction just to practice ... But thanks anyway for the efforts and time.
I really was hoping there'd be some kind of trick or rule of thumb in order to not have to correct the ADF for each small adjustment. I'm currently flying the PMDG DC-6 in MSFS (without the optional GPS) so I thought it's about time to finally learn how to really use an ADF. But with the DC-6 being such a complex aircraft with only a very rudimentary autopilot (by todays standards) it's quite challenging to keep the plane's heading and the ADF synchronized at all times. Maybe I just have to write a script that does that automatically for me so that the ADF works more like a RMI. :)
By the way I did write that script and it works fine, but right after that I found out that the DC-6 actually has a separate RMI on its instument panel. However since the ADF has a clearer scale than the RMI I'm still using the script. ;)
The Beachcraft baron on plane 11 also has a crappy auto pilot that barely keeps the plane level and on heading. Very sloppy tolerances. You have to fly with heading control because trying to track an ADF in wind condition is challenging and needs a precise auto pilot system.
I gave this a lot of thought the other day, and realized that the ADF is a very simple and easy instrument to follow once you fully understand it. The trick is, it was designed to indicate a bearing to the station. Regardless, of which way you flew, it will always point to the station. Therefore, I found it much easier to be concerned with the point of the instrument, or the arrowhead and where it is located. This will tell you two things. First, it will tell you which direction the station is in relation to you at second how many degrees You are off from being aligned to flying directly to or from it. Remember, 90% of the ADF units had a fixed azmuth card. You can do the same procedure with a rotating card but I used to leave it North up just so I wouldn’t have extra work in the cockpit. For example, to make things simple let’s say we’re flying south to north heading 360. We tune the ADF in and identify the station. The bearing pointer points 10° to the left at 350. This is telling you the station is to your left and your 10°, of course. That means you need to turn to the left. How much? Let’s say you want to do a 15° intercept. You turn left 15°, now heading 335. The bearing pointer will indicate 005 because you moved your nose to the left 15°. Continue to fly that heading of 015 until the needle is pointing at 015. When you recover to the right 15° you’ll be directly on course heading 360 to the station. Now, if you remain on a 360 heading and pass the station, the bearing pointer would rotate counterclockwise and settle in 10° left of 180 or 190. Again turn the aircraft left, in the direction of the head of the arrow, 15°, which will make the pointer read 205 and continue to fly until the pointer retreat 15° back to 195. When you turn right tracking away from the station you’re bearing pointer will be directly behind you on 180. Remember this golden rule. Fly in relation to the station. This way you don’t have to remember push and pull. Head tail. Mostly, never refer a bearing as a radial with an NDB. It also does not have reverse sensing. That is another pet peeve with me. There is no such thing as reverse sensing. The instrument doesn’t reverse anything or does it send anything. It points where it is supposed to be. This is known as reverse orientation. The best way to describe. It is holding a map with north up and driving south on the road. Your destination is off to your right according to the map, but in your relation you have to make a left to go that way otherwise you will be going opposite direction of the intended location.
This is the first time I’ve understood NDB approaches. This was better than in my ground school.
I actually had a NDB approach on my instrument check ride in 1999. Stockton, CA 29R. Like so many others, that approach no longer exists. But I flew it successfully and passed that check ride. It was vectors-to-final and the wind was light that day, so it wasn't too difficult. The plane had a King KR-86 integrated unit on the the right side of the panel, so that was always a bit of a challenge.
Can you give more explanation for “push head, pull tail” please? How do you make your reference?
A great exercise I do on MS2020 or X-Plane ( more realistic movement of the ADF), is with the classic C-172 is the NDB RWY 4 at KUIN. I only look at the map on the Garmin 530 for situational awareness. I do not use any GPS to fly the approach. I will takeoff from RWY 4 using the autopilot on heading mode and fly the NDB outbound, do the procedure turn and the fly the approach. All this using the ADF only. I know there is really no reason in this day and age to fly this approach, but it is a great skill and just fun to do. Try it both with rotating the azimuth and without. Next add a little wind as well.
We practiced NDB approaches back in the early 90's but I don't have an NDB in the area I am flying in. I'm good with that :)
Excellent video
Thank you!
When should we decide to do the procedure turn to 102 heading?
Of course you have to have an ADF installed. How else would you listen to the ballgame? 😀
When I was first learning to fly, AM broadcast stations were shown on sectional charts. I think the FAA stopped doing that because too many fools were using their local radio stations to create do-it-yourself NDB approaches. It tended to not end well.
Nice video. Thanks for that. From my experience while training, I firmly believe out of all the instrument flying, QDM n QDR are by far the hardest.VOR interceptions , DME arcs, ILS approaches are easy work compared to this. But we will all get there. Lets go boys n girls!
Way back when I did my instrument rating RMI/HSI's were something you just didn't find in the training planes. In fact most didn't even have movable card ADF's indicators, they were fixed card. A pilot got really good at mentally "overlaying" the ADF bearing pointer onto the DG thus making your own poor man's RMI. No pilot will tell you they miss those days!
On my instrument checkride I had to fly a full procedure NDB partial panel (simulated vacuum failure so no AI or DG), just the compass and the ADF needle. I passed but it wasn't my favorite thing to have to do! As my career progressed I was always thankful for having learned to do this without movable card/RMI/HSI, but I wouldn't give up our modern instrumentation for the world! It's A LOT easier to maintain orientation with modern displays doing a lot of the work for you.
This is something I've been trying to get good at, just a fixed card ADF, the biggest issue with that is when you throw in Wind and a holding pattern.. oh man it can get confusing lol, how had you learnt to deal with that situation?
@@michaelpace5356 I might be completely off base here, but I attribute some of the learning to not having moving maps and a bunch of stuff orienting you. You had to learn from the get-go to build a mental picture from the six pack and your paper charts. For me I felt like my brain was forced to fully understand how each instrument contributed to the big picture, both flight instruments and nav. GPS wasn't around and only the best trainers even had DME onboard. We'd time radial crossings to figure out distance from VOR's and such. It worked but is a lot more effort.
One of my instructors called it a built in INS! You calibrated position when you took off and just "somehow" kept track of it all through the twists and turns.
I can tell you I'm sure as H*** no prodigy or genius. Maybe I got lucky a lot, but all my buddies apparently got lucky too!😁
The RMI (Radio Magnecti Indicator) was the predecessor to the HSI without a CDI indicator. This was a very accurate except for Amelia Earhart. Remember, around sunset and sunrise the radio waves were “bent” and you get erroneous reading. Nearby lightning would cause interference as well. I remember my FAA exam, you had to add heading & bearing to ding magnetic bearing to the station.
Im at the start of my Instrument Rating..this ifr sim is fantastic..with a prepar3d sim im able to set a home traning camp:)
You're smart using those sims for IFR training. It will save a lot of confusion in the cockpit. And yes, Fergo's IFR sim is great!
Could you do a video where the NDB is the final approach fix and published hold? Like for the ILS 9 at RGK?
Awesome video, looks complicated but should make sense after a while. Would be nice, if you could please do same run in FS2020. Thank you !
great! Should be uploading that in a few days
Amazing Video. It made things clear for me about NDB ... I want to ask though how did you draw the approach on the simulator
Thanks, Yato! All the animations and drawings are done on top of the videos in Adobe, it’s not part of the simulator
@@flightinsight9111 ah alright ... thank you man. Hope to see more content in the future
Awesome explanation. Thanks! I dont know why but your voice was soooo quiete in this vid even that I´ve increase all my volume setting to max. Thats little bit anoying, but none the less great job. Thanks.
I tried to replicate this exactly on fergonez, but if I want to „pull“ the tail to the right and fly to the right, the tail actually goes to the left. So exactly the opposite as shown here. What am I making wrong? Thanks ins advance for any help
ADF's are cool. They don't just work with beacons. They are AM radios and also cover the complete AM commercial radio band and you can use them (Better ID it first though) like a beacon to get to a general area. GPS is awesome, accurate to within inches...until we go to war and the Space Force derates it and China starts knocking out our constellation. Then your VOR and NDB skills better be ready to go.
Does anyone know what the heck the BFO (Beat Frequency Oscillator) is for and how to use it?
@@aviatortrucker6285it’s to hear the Morse code signal from what i remember
Great video. Nicely presented. Thank you!
Thanks for checking it out!
OK, here is the ultimate challenge to show on Microsoft flight simulator. Perform the NDB approach using the G 1000. The aircraft does not have an ADF so you have to use the bearing pointer that is located on the HSI. You have to ignore the magenta line and follow the blue line, either the single or double depending if you set the ADF to bearing pointer one or bearing pointer two then have to figure your intercept angle and then fly your bearing inbound or outbound for the approach. if you set the approach up using the GPS, the pointer will match directly in line with the magenta pointer. I usually don’t set a flight plan in the FMS so that I can fly some of these approaches without the use of any map or magenta oval. I have noticed some published VOR approaches that are not in the MS 2000 database. One of them is KFYG for their VOR-A approach. You just have to fly using the approach plate and your instruments. You do not have the ability to follow any magenta course. Using the auto pilot and heading function. This will get you a very accurate approach.
Cool, thanks for sharing 😉🤙
Push the Head, Pull the Tail, hehe nice 🤙
How did you determine the intercept angle of 45deg to the ndb?
Say you’re heading 220. The card is fixed so you can’t rotate it. The station is to your left and the pointer it either at 045 or 315. You are 45 degrees from the station and turn that much to start tracking to the station. Same for outbound except the pointer is at 135 or 225. Soooo, you want to intercept an approach leg that is 038 degrees for Rwy 4. You fly 45 degrees to intercept and when the pointer is 45 (either left or right) from N or 45 from S (depends is the approach is towards the NDB or from it. They are all bearings, NOT radials.
Great efforts but still very confusing ...i`d recommend doing basic navigation without wind correction just to practice ... But thanks anyway for the efforts and time.
Yeah NDBs are a little easier to digest with no wind, but where we make the big bucks is dealing with correction angles lol
The Black Hawk still has an ADF when they come new from Sikorsky. The Army is mind-boggling
Broccoli is great! Some cheese sauce really transforms it.
Alternatively, eat it with a dash of soy or teriyaki.
Bro.
I love broccoli. NDB=Need dat Broccoli.
Broccoli with cheese. Broccoli and shrimp pasta. Cold broccoli in ranch dip.
As off topic as it is, I'm crazy about broccoli
Yes please
The website no longer works.
Im watching this while eating broccoli…. What a day
I thought I turned towards the barb on procedure turns. I'd like to know if im wrong
Hi, Guys. At which speed do you to start the outbound? And how about the rate-of-descent?
I really was hoping there'd be some kind of trick or rule of thumb in order to not have to correct the ADF for each small adjustment. I'm currently flying the PMDG DC-6 in MSFS (without the optional GPS) so I thought it's about time to finally learn how to really use an ADF. But with the DC-6 being such a complex aircraft with only a very rudimentary autopilot (by todays standards) it's quite challenging to keep the plane's heading and the ADF synchronized at all times. Maybe I just have to write a script that does that automatically for me so that the ADF works more like a RMI. :)
By the way I did write that script and it works fine, but right after that I found out that the DC-6 actually has a separate RMI on its instument panel. However since the ADF has a clearer scale than the RMI I'm still using the script. ;)
The Beachcraft baron on plane 11 also has a crappy auto pilot that barely keeps the plane level and on heading. Very sloppy tolerances. You have to fly with heading control because trying to track an ADF in wind condition is challenging and needs a precise auto pilot system.
Your screen is a little dark .Hard to see all the instriments
Sean Bridge
Kirk Oval
Lorena Way
Isaiah Stravenue
Eveline Mountain
Robbie Estates
Garcia Robert Anderson Daniel Garcia Gary
Perez Kevin Thompson Christopher Allen Brenda
Kuvalis Rapids
Wiza Ports
Perez Paul Wilson Anthony Moore Mark
Moore Donna Young Thomas Miller Jennifer
Johnson Mary Lee Mark Thomas Linda
Way too complicated for absolute beginners.
Where is the FAF?