Back in the mid 1970’s when I was learning to fly, we were taught to draw a line on the chart from A to B, calculate the angle compared to true north, then add or subtract magnetic variation to get your heading(M), plus work out the effect on your track from the forecast wind at the level you will be flying at.
Soon after getting my licence, I threw out most of that theoretical stuff and read up on VOR navigation, which we were not taught as it was not part of the curriculum. Also in those days the amount of what is now class D airspace, was fairly small in comparison to today. Back then if you wanted to fly from BKY VOR to BPK VOR, you could track towards BPK with a slim chance of straying into Stanstead airspace even if you had a stiff crosswind. Not so today.
I managed to get where I wanted to go quite successfully until the magic day arrived and GPS was available in hand held units. I went on a flight with a friend who had purchased a Trimble GPS and he had programmed a waypoint which was a large petrol station on the M1 motorway.
He was flying I was holding the Trimble and as we got closer, there it was..magic. No more guessing. Put waypoints where you wanted them. This was a revolution! But then the old safety first crept in. What if the GPS malfunctions? So some routes were flown with a VOR overlaid in the route. Years passed and I owned various models of GPS. Garmin Pilot 3, Garmin 196 and Garmin 296 which I still have. That tends to be my backup these days as the unit has a battery life of 5 hours on full brightness. Then came the wonderful day when Skydemon was launched. I had my doubts at first because of it’s subscription model, but after going on a trip down to Morocco with a pilot friend who had invested in Skydemon, I was hooked. No need to carry all those paper charts….but what if the unit malfunctioned or there was an outage? So we better have some charts as a backup!
With a traditional 6 pack panel we have backup. If the vacuum system fails we have an electric turn and bank. If everything fails we have a whiskey compass. No matter what technology gives us we still have to think about a backup. The wonderful glass cockpits still have mechanical instrument backups.
I’m for keeping things as simple as possible but like most people get starry eyed over new tech solutions. The latest being Electronic Conspicuity. I’ve tried it but I find it distracting and it takes ones attention away from the primary task of flying the aeroplane. There was a recent online article showing the panel on a Cessna 182 owned by an American doctor. It had two Garmin navigators plus two full size iPads plus dual VOR gauges plus ADSB… You get the picture? Looking out of the window was probable the last thing he thought about.
So when I think back to my early flying days, I’ve come to the conclusion that drawing lines on a chart was probable a good idea. In theory you can get to your destination with just a Chart,ruler,stopwatch, but with all the controlled airspace in the UK and Europe the chances of upsetting somebody is quite high. So do your best to keep it simple but don’t forget the backup.
My backup is an iPhone with Foreflight loaded. It would normally get its position from the Stratus 2S that also provides it with traffic and weather, but if that fails it works fine all on its own to get me where I’m going.
It won’t ever overheat when held in my hand 
Propman –
You forgot: no headset, hand mic, NDB, QDMs, and whizz wheel.
Propman wrote:
we better have some charts as a backup!
You really mean those made out of wooden paste which IIRC was called paper? Well, assuming a GPS outage, my tablet (iPad mini & iPhone as BU to the BU) using SD (or hopefully any other nav app) will still show the charts, albeit without position… and those chart will be current, zoomable, and always with me 
Propman wrote:
If the vacuum system fails we have an electric turn and bank. If everything fails we have a whiskey compass
Well, things are changing here as well… nobody is installing vacuum systems nor 6 packs in any of the newer homebuilts. Most of them (including mine) even keep the whiskey in it’s proper glass, and got rid of the compass. Flying true track should be the rule today
Propman wrote:
but with all the controlled airspace in the UK and Europe the chances of upsetting somebody is quite high
Unfortunately very true, indeed
Dan wrote:
Well, assuming a GPS outage, my tablet (iPad mini & iPhone as BU to the BU) using SD (or hopefully any other nav app) will still show the charts, albeit without position… and those chart will be current, zoomable, and always with me
Yes, essentially this. Anyone nowadays has a couple of electronic devices on board, without even thinking about it. You just need to make sure that some EFB is installed in more than one of them, and you already have enough redundancy to at least bring you safely to the ground in case of issues.
I used to bring paper charts too as extra backup, but I stopped because I cannot think of any realistic scenario where they would really be needed.
Seba wrote:
Yes, essentially this. Anyone nowadays has a couple of electronic devices on board, without even thinking about it. You just need to make sure that some EFB is installed in more than one of them, and you already have enough redundancy to at least bring you safely to the ground in case of issues.
I always have Skydemon with up-to-date charts and plates on my phone…
One could use different software on the primary and backup devices, for example, SkyDemon on iPad and ForeFlight on the phone. If there’s a condition that crashes your software, it may also be met on the other device. This rule isn’t followed in commercial environments, where it is enough that both pilots use iPads with the same software. Another backup would be charts in your avionics and most of the time you can simply ask for vectors.
jxk wrote:
Propman –
You forgot: no headset, hand mic, NDB, QDMs, and whizz wheel.
No I didn’t forget, I just didn’t want to overstretch the younger pilots imaginations! Flying before the internet must have involved looking out for pterodactyls!
I’m getting old!
I feel I am fairly well backed up in my Bonanza. My primary navigation is via the GTN 750Xi. My primary instruments are by the G500TXi. I have a standby alternator that will power 20 amps of systems. The ships battery will power about 20 to 30 minutes of avionics usage. I have a G5 with an independent battery backup power source to backup the G500TXi. I have a GDL 88 ADS-B system that backs up my primary weather receiver a GDL 69A. Also have a WX500 Stormscope. I also have several portable battery powered ADS-B receivers in my pack that can provide backup AHRS, GPS, ADS-B weather and Traffic (a Stratus 2, a GDL39D, and a Sentry). I also have a Garmin Aera 796. I use an iPad Mini 5 with both ForeFlight and GP on it. It is backed up with a iPhone 13 Max Pro with the same software options. I have US charts and world wide Jeppesen Charts. I don’t use the GPSS function provided by the G500TXi, but kept my Stec ST901 GPSS which allows me to turn off the G500TXi and still provide GPS course guidance including lateral guidance for approaches from the GTN 750Xi. If GPS fails or their is a system wide GPS jamming event, my number 2 Nav system is a KNS80 that provides DME, VOR, RNAV (Rho Theta), and ILS. If the G500TXi is working, it can provide guidance for VOR courses and ILS to the autopilot. If not, then it has its own dedicated GI-106A CDI that can provide VOR, RNAV (Rho Theta) and ILS indications. I only have one transponder, but the GDL 88 would provide ATC with surveillance information if the transponder failed. I have two Com units and a portable iCom VHF radio with a headset adapter. I also have my vertical magnetic compass. I have two spare noise cancelling headsets on board.
I always carry my iPad with ForeFlight which, depending on the airplane I fly that day, gets its data either from the panel via Garmin Flightstream or from a Stratus 3 external GPS/ADS-B receiver. On longer x-country trips I carry a second iPad in case the main one runs out of juice and also a second external GPS unit, a DUAL 160. As I always have my phone on me, that’s the last line of defense, iPhone also running ForeFlight. I normally don’t carry paper charts, but for longer trips throw some old ones in the bag just in case.
