Intercepting Courses

Follow Your Nose!

logo ipc ifr online course rusty pilots

If only it were that easy.  Good news is this TOPIC is fairly easy and straightforward.  Enjoy!

ARTCC: Cessna 8MA I have revised routing advise ready to copy…..

Cessna 8MA: uh, standby center, I’ll be landing in 25 minutes, try me back in 25′-30′ please.

Turns out that doesn’t fly (literally) with center or any controller.  I’m speaking from personal experience here too.

Let’s take a look at some routing ATC may assign and what it is they are actually asking for, and how you might accomplish it.

filed route: RSW DEEDS CURVE DHP KTMB

You take off from KRSW and are given vectors on departure eastbound, then given a revised clearance:

ARTCC: Cessna 8MA heading 180 join v35 to DOLPHIN, rest of your routing unchanged.

This looks like:

tracking course ipc ifr rusty pilot lesson

REMEMBER: When trying to intercept courses in general and you are choosing the intercept angle, take into account how close you are to the station.  When 60nm from the station, full-scale deflection of the VOR needle is 10nm.  When you are 6 miles from the station, full-scale deflection is only 1 mile and you will cover that 1 mile quickly if you are trying to intercept at a sharp angle (like 60 degrees).  The closer you are to the station, the shallower your angle of intercept should be (think maybe 15- 20 degrees).