Visual flight

View navigation is a method to orient themselves in the airspace, which is predominantly used by pilots of small aircraft flying under visual flight conditions.

Navigating by sight, so the comparison of the map with the terrain, requires flying that you first equip themselves with suitable maps. For the purposes of flying under visual flight conditions ( engl. visual flight rules, VFR), there are special maps whose content was standardized in 1949 by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation ).

ICAO card and special cards

The standard chart used for VFR flying is the ICAO map at a scale of 1:500,000. This corresponds to 1 cm on the map 5 km in nature, which

• As yet be a sufficient overview,
• Other hand, allows a good representation of water bodies and major transport routes ( railways, highways, federal highways ), villages and forest areas.
• Helpful for orientation in low altitudes are also landmarks such as TV towers, churches and skyscrapers (which are always drawn from 100 m height), and Towers, road or railway crossings.

For the glider there because of the lower altitude also sporadic special maps at a scale of 1:200,000 to 1:300,000, which represent the terrain more accurately, but also of all cable cars and other obstacles to air navigation below 100 m altitude.

For areas without modern tools of navigation also Large scale approach maps the airfield environments should be mentioned, and for the so-called long-haul flight route maps in scale 1: 1 million or less.

Additional navigation methods

The navigation view is primarily used by private pilots. In line flight it has little meaning. Normally, the navigation view is supported by other methods - mainly radio navigation and / or GPS-based satellite navigation. Also important is the sense of space ( sense of balance and " staying power " ), dead reckoning and various approach aids in the vicinity of aerodromes.

From about 5 km altitude the view navigation is becoming less important because reducing the visibility of the air contrast of the terrain. Line structures such as wide roads or rivers, however, are still clearly visible even from a height, which goes back to a special property of the eye.

View navigation in everyday life

Although it is rarely aware of us: the movement as pedestrians, cyclists or motorists ultimately based on visual navigation. However, stop you if you lose your orientation, and to find their way again. If you look at " verfranzt " on the plane - about by the advent of clouds or a few minutes of inattention, the re-orientation can be difficult despite the correctly aligned map.

• Air navigation