It has been many years since I last flew a VFR flight using a combination of pilotage and dead reckoning to navigate a cross country flight. With my recent introduction to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on the X-Box X-Series, I decided to recreate one of many old training routes; a VFR Dead Reckoning flight from Parafield (YPPF) to Renmark (YREN) Australia.
Although I have not flown a Piper Arrow III in real life, it is very similar to the TB-20 Trinidad. I never got a chance to fly the TB20, however I flew the TB-10 Tobago out of Parafield on this exact route. The TB10 cruised at 120 knots with a fixed landing gear compared to the 135 knots the Piper Arrow flies with a retractable landing gear.
The scenery in the flight simulator accurately depicts the terrain and vegetation of the area. If you look at any Visual Naviagtion Charts (VNC) of the Adelaide area, you’ll see how empty this whole area really is. There is not a lot out there to visually navigate by, which makes it even more interesting and challenging for new VFR pilots.
If you are going to learn to fly in Australia, the Adelaide area is really well suited to training new pilots for VFR and later IFR flights. I will continue to fly other training routes out of Parafield in the near future using the X-Box with a flight column control system. This home simulator makes a wonderful flight training tool.
Hopefully you have enjoyed the VFR Dead Reckoning flight from Parafield (YPPF) to Renmark (YREN) video and have gained something from it. As you will discover throughout your life; the learning never ends.
