Disclaimer: I'll try to be as clear as possible, and I'll try to explain with my gained knowledge as both, real pilot and aeronautical engineering student. Have in mind that English is not my first language and I'm trying my best for you to understand me. I'm open to any criticism that makes this section good!
So, now you know what all those needles are there for... Why don't we go somewhere?
Today: Navigation
Navigation is more than just going from point "A" to point "B", so it might take more than just one post.
Let's get the hands dirty, basically we have 2 types of navigation: Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). Where's the difference, you may ask. The main difference is that in IFR you can fly "blind", and by this I mean without the need of looking outside the window. Whilst, in VFR you must have at least 5km of visibility and the cloud top at 1000ft. If conditions lack in any of these, then you CAN'T take off.
So, as its name suggest, in VFR we fly looking out of the window, searching for references on ground like a river, a road, railways, towns, lagoons... You get it. But, have in mind that we have, let's say, 3 types of VFR flying: "pure" VFR, estimate and mixed.
In "pure" VFR we fly following ground references. This is the way the first brave aviators flew as they didn't have VOR, ADF, GPS and so. The most advanced way of navigation in that time was stellar navigation! Commonly used when crossing oceans or in trans-con flights.
But going back on topic, in planes such as the Piper PA11 this is the only way to navigate, you only have an RPM gauge, a speed indicator, an altimeter, a compass and, of course, windows. When preparing a flight with VFR charts, have in mind that: towns must have grown, rivers might be dried out, roads can be highways, railroads are just ramparts, lagoons can be lakes... The landscape changes! But luckily we have google earth, and this will give us an up-to-date snapshot of how it looks right now. But, in Flight Simulator we won't have this problem, though roads are quite detailed down there even on default terrain.
On Estimate VFR, we fly using our compass and navaids such as VFR and/or ADF. But navigating this way requires you to seat your as* on the chair, take a plotter and link every waypoint (generally towns) and get the correct heading and distances. For FS, visiting SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts is more than enough. it will make your life easier, you still have to correct your heading for winds aloft or you will end up anywhere else. This last thing is extremely important if legs are long. Later I'll explain how to use VOR and ADF.
On mixed VFR... Well we'll use both of the methods shown above. Maybe we can follow a road that will lead us to a town, and then go straight through a corn field (where we won't have any strong reference) to cut some miles and get earlier to eat the $100 burger. And after that waypoint we can fly directly to a VOR where the airfield is. Also you can use 2 VOR stations to know triangulate your position. For example, you don't know where that little town you are using as waypoint is, but you know (because you were smart enough to plan it) that it's located on an intersections between 2 radials of 2 different stations. Once you get to that intersections and you confirm visually that the town is down there, you'll know that you are not lost.
Here, you can see my charts, plotter and logbook (non related to navigation).
Cosas by Mauriciooo!, on Flickr
Un año de vuelos by Mauriciooo!, on Flickr
So this is as far as I'll get in navigation for today. On the next issue we'll see IFR navigation (though basic, maybe).
Hope you enjoyed!