Online simulator for VOR/NDB radio nav

Logging this here partly as a reminder to myself but also for any PPL students in or about to begin the navigation portion of their training: I’ve been using the Firgo IFR Simulator to mess around with radio navigation outside of my PPL training. Really helped me to get my head around the concept of relative bearings for NDB-based nav and the practicalities of radial/reciprocol radial and from/to flags for VOR navigation.

I particularly enjoy the mission mode, which gives you a random selection of (hidden) NDBs and VORs you have to fly to in sequence, but it’s also useful if you just want to drag beacons or the plane around and see what impact that has on the various instruments to help solidify the theory outside of the cockpit.

My nav plog template

In case any students in a similar place are interested, here’s my plog template I’m using for nav.

It’s a bit of a work in progress, but it’s designed to be opened out for planning but then folded in half (and slit with a ruler) for flight, which hides most of the information you DON’T need in flight and means your windstar is on the next sheet down.

You should be able to open that up in the free online diagrams.net if you want to mess around with it to make it your own.

Note: When you’re printing, you’ll need to choose 2-sided mode with short edge binding in order to get the right orientation of the windstar one you fold and cut the A4 sheet.