Homing
Navigating directly toward a radio signal requires continuous heading adjustments to counteract wind drift. Understanding homing techniques helps pilots recognize how tracking a bearing to a navigation aid differs from maintaining a precise course over the ground.
Introduction to Homing
- The Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) may be used to "home" in on a station
- Homing is flying the aircraft on any heading required to keep the needle pointing directly to the 0° Relative Bearing (RB) position
Homing Procedure
- Tune the station, identify the Morse code signal
- Turn the aircraft to bring the ADF azimuth needle to the 0° RB position
- Turns should be made using the heading indicator
- When the turn is complete, check the ADF needle and make small corrections as necessary
- Small heading corrections are then made to zero the ADF needle
- If there is no wind, the aircraft homes to the station on a direct track over the ground. With a crosswind, the aircraft follows a circuitous path to the station on the downwind side of the direct track to the station
Homing Airman Certification Standards
Conclusion
- Remain mindful that performance calculations are usually more optimistic than actual performance
- Consider actual versus realized performance when doing any performance calculations
- Consider practicing maneuvers on a flight simulator to introduce yourself to maneuvers or knock off rust
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References
- Federal Aviation Administration - Pilot/Controller Glossary
- Instrument Flying Handbook (9-5) Homing