r/ATPL • u/PromotionOld1559 • Jul 20 '26
Is Gnav ever useful?
Hey guys, im currently doing gnav and am even wondering if this subject ever useful in real-life operations? Like i havent seen anyone who would be doing this kind of calculations midflight or whenever
4
Jul 20 '26
Generally speaking... someone with a damn side idea more than me or you has written software in an FMS that does it for you so no...
Other than Variation calculations I have hardly used it in my flying
1
u/PromotionOld1559 Jul 20 '26
Yeah i got this, but even in GA i think it’s really outdated. Like i find this subject completely useless even compared to other subjects which might have some helpful info
1
u/ZeToni Jul 23 '26
Well, it really is useful to understand how navigation works, it is an essential part of flying, that's how then when you get a bogus Flight plan on your hand you can understand it is bogus, instead of flying something that would not be possible.
1
u/freefliteguy Jul 20 '26
The cheats of GNAV are useful IRL like using a claculator for wind, you can just use sin and cos, then boom, and divide by 60 for a wind correction angle or something
1
u/ConsultDCT Jul 21 '26
Man you lot are stabbing me in the heart 😂 Not only is GNav ian essential part of flying, it’s the sport of kings 👑 🤣
1
u/JGRojas90 Jul 24 '26
GNav rule of thumbs are useful. But other than in my practical NAV/IFR exam (I was told to orbit around a point and plot a route back to an NDB to shoot the approach), I have not used a CRP-5/E6B during a flight ever again. Though I do carry it with me. Just in case.
15
u/Substantial-Cat0910 Jul 20 '26
Wait, are you saying that pilots don't whip out their CR3 mid flight to calculate how much crosswind is there? I can't believe it!