Missouri Simulator Tour: Tarkio to Savannah

Previous leg: Unionville to Tarkio

My real world flight training has finally gotten to the point where I am doing basic instrument work. Our club’s instructor has started teaching me how to use VORs so I decided to switch up my simulator training to provide more practice. This is going to change the routes that I take on my FSX tour of Missouri. Instead of going directly from one county seat to another, I am going to be spending a little more time flying from VOR to VOR. This will probably create a more zigzagging route across the state because at this moment I am intentionally not using auto pilot, GPS or even VFR cross-country navigation techniques.

Fortunately, the real world weather for this flight provided a great opportunity to practice instrument flying. Taking off from Gould Peterson Memorial Airport in Tarkio, I encountered a heavy cloud bank just 1,500′ AGL. Before leaving the ground I dialed in the St. Joseph VOR and set my inbound course. Worth Airport, a private field just to the north of Savannah, would be my final destination of the day.

The cloud bank came up as soon as I got off the ground. Fortunately, the temperature was warm enough that icing was not going to be an issue. It was a simply a matter of following the VOR needle and getting myself to the destination in one piece. Overall that processed worked better for me than it ever has in the before. In the past I have tried to chase the needle and ended up making wildly swinging course corrections. My real-world instructor has taught me the importance of flying an approximate heading and making slight course corrections until I intercept the radial.

To make sure that I was not cheating, I turned on the 2D IFR panel. This cut down on sightseeing, but it forced me to pay attention to my navigation. Looking at the Foreflight track log it is easy to see that I am not yet able to track the VOR perfectly, but this flight was far closer to my goal than anything I have done in the past. Following the inbound radial to the station, I made a turn over the station and flew the short outbound leg until I broke through the clouds and made a visual landing at Worth Airport.

The journey so far (10.7 hours, 611 NM)

My destination for the night was Savannah, the seat of Andrew County. Savannah bills itself as small town living at its best. Interestingly, I learned that the town was one time home to hip hop artist Eminem.

Next leg: Savannah to St. Joseph