This doesn’t look right

Most of us have thought at one time or another, "Oh! Oh! This doesn’t look right." This thought is usually followed by a rapid checking of the map and some turning to identify something we recognize. Being lost is difficult to admit. We often use euphemisms such as "I’m temporarily uncertain of my position." Years ago, Royal Canadian Air Force reconnaissance pilots used to say, "You are never lost if you don’t care where you are." Most of us do care very much where we are.
A Cessna 172M pilot was flying from the Edmonton City Centre Airport to Peace River, Alta., 250 to the west (heading of 295 degrees), when he became lost. With the assistance of another aircraft and the Edmonton Area Control Centre (ACC), he was located 80 nm northeast of Peace River and was guided back to the Peace River Airport. The Transportation Safety Board report stated that he didn’t know how to properly use the navigation aids installed in his aircraft.
The pilot of a Piper Cherokee called the Watson Lake Community Air Radio Station (CARS) to report that he was lost and short of fuel. The Watson Lake CARS operator unsuccessfully tried to help him identify some landmarks. The crew of a Shorts Skyvan overheard the conversation and asked the Piper pilot if he had any nav aids on board. The Cherokee pilot reported that he had a VOR and a GPS, but didn’t know how to use them. The Skyvan co-pilot tried to talk the Cherokee pilot through the operation of the GPS to locate himself, but the Cherokee pilot decided that his fuel was critical and elected to land on a sand bar in a river. Fortunately the aircraft was undamaged and the pilot and plane were soon located. He had flown past Watson Lake, missing it by about five miles.
An Aeronca 7AC pilot became uncertain of his position en route to the Atikokan Municipal Airport. He tried several times to contact the Thunder Bay FSS before he finally had two-way communications. He reported that he was flying eastbound, and he thought he was over Highway 11. The FSS specialist used local landmarks to help the pilot get his bearings and point him toward the Atikokan Airport.
There are several things we can do to avoid misplacing ourselves in the first place. Plan each leg of a trip. The plan doesn’t have to be as detailed as you were taught during flight training, although if it were, you would probably never get lost. Always know where you are at any given moment, and maintain a good situational awareness of the weather and your fuel state.
Set the heading indicator before takeoff, after every turn, and about every 15 minutes during straight and level flight. Heading indicators are notorious for slipping off the magnetic heading (precession). Mechanical precession is caused by wear on the bearings in the heading indicator gyroscope, as well as by the bearings becoming sticky from pollutants in the air. This will cause an error in the heading after turns. Apparent precession is the result of the earth being round, and consequently the lines of longitude being curved. The closer we are to the North Pole the more the lines of longitude curve. To fly a straight (magnetic) line we must cross the lines of longitude at the same angle. To do this we have adjust our heading indicator to the magnetic compass periodically.
Perform a track check after setting out on the chosen heading. Make sure the chosen heading is taking you where you want to go before you follow it very far. Adjust the heading as necessary. Once you have a good heading, fly it. Sight seeing is marvelous fun, but if you stray off your heading for very long, the terrain below may look fascinating, but frighteningly unfamiliar.
Use the navigation aids available to you. There are NDBs and AM radio stations everywhere. Even if all you can do is set an ADF or radio station frequency, and home to the signal, you will get to where you want to go, or get yourself found. VORs are not as plentiful, but are even easier to use. They make navigation a snap. If you have your own GPS, you likely know how to use it. If a GPS is installed in the rental aircraft you are using, get some instruction on how to use it before you start off on a long cross-country.
If the worst case happens, and you get lost, orbit. There is no point continuing off into oblivion. Climb, if possible. Altitude will allow you to see more and make it easier to positively identify a landmark. Note the word "positively." Heading off to a landmark you are not absolutely certain of, may get you more lost, and use up valuable fuel. Climbing will also help you establish radio contact with an FSS, a CARS or ACC.
FSS specialists and CARS operators can assist with local landmark knowledge, or can give you an ACC frequency. Many FSS specialists can provide a VHF/DF steer to a pilot in trouble. They will ask you to transmit over your radio for a few seconds, and they will use their DF equipment to take a bearing from the FSS to you. They will give you the reciprocal of this bearing as a heading to fly to the airport. Check your heading indicator against the magnetic compass before you fly the heading.
ACC frequencies can be found in the Canada Flight Supplement (CFS) in the COMM section under the nearest airport that has a control tower or FSS. An ACC will give you radar vectors and flight following to an airport. A transponder is helpful in assisting an ACC to locate you. It is not always necessary however. An ACC controller can ask you to make specific turns and will often be able to locate you with a "skin paint" on your aircraft.
Use this winter to upgrade your navigation skills and to learn more about the operation of the navigation aids installed in the aircraft you will be flying. Being prepared will help you get found. Better yet, being prepared will prevent you from getting lost.