FLYING Magazine
Question: I am working on my instrument rating and a lot of the talk in the FBO is about the instrument approaches that the FAA has put out of service. The airport used to have an NDB [non-directional beacon] approach, but that was replaced by an RNAV a few years ago. Pilots tell horror stories about flying the NDB. Are there any NDB approaches still out there, are they difficult to fly, and do I need to know how to fly one?
Answer: According to the recently issued Instrument Flight Procedures Inventory Summary for the FAA, there are presently 76 NDB approaches in the U.S. The number breaks down to 72 NDB and four NDB/DME. That’s down from 149 a year ago.
As to whether you need to learn how to fly one to get your instrument certificate, the answer is no. The NDB was removed from the Airman Certification Standards for the Instrument rating years ago. It is no longer part of the checkride or the knowledge test.
If you want to learn how to fly an NDB using an analog Automatic Direction Finder (ADF), the instrument in the cockpit that receives the NDB, it would likely be a challenge finding an NDB “in the wild” along with an aircraft with a functioning ADF, as well as a CFI who still remembers how to fly one and teach one.
Unless the customer has an aircraft with a functioning ADF, I use an AATD to teach NDB approaches to the clients who want to learn them ”old school.” Most of the NDB approaches have been replaced by WAAS (GPS) approaches, yet there are a few NDBs out there. Many of the clients are CFIs who were never required to learn the NDB, but they are trying to get a job someplace that still has one.
When you identify the NDB station through the Morse code identifier, you must listen to it during the approach because there is no on/off flag like there is on a VOR. The head of the arrow always points to the station transmitting.
If you are working with a fixed compass card (that round thing with headings on it around the ADF) and the head of the arrow is off to one side, make your hand into a peace sign, putting your pointer and middle finger on the head and tail of the arrow respectively and, without changing your hand posture, move it over to the heading indicator. The heading to the NDB will be under your pointer finger.
I submit knowing how to fly an analog NDB is like knowing how to drive a five-speed and use a pay phone— old skills that just might come in handy someday. I find them fun to fly, but they are challenging, especially on windy days when you are experimenting with how much wind correction to apply as you fly toward the station.
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