Narc, TACAN-HSI Navigation

TACAN / HSI Navigation
DCS A-10C
NARC
76th vFS – 476th vFG
TACAN / HSI Navigation | DCS A-10C
Basic HSI and TACAN operation, to include tuning and identifying TACANs and basic HSI symbols, will not be
covered in this document. Please see the DCS A-10C user manual for reference to those topics.
Overview
• TACAN homing navigation
• Direct to the station navigation
• Intercepting a TACAN radial
• Point to point navigation
TACAN Homing TACAN Homing Ground Track
• A basic, non wind corrected method
to proceed to or away from a TACAN
• Does not follow a direct ground

track to the station
• Procedure
• Tune / Identify / Twist
• When CDI drifts, twist in a new
course to center CDI
• Continue until overflight of
TACAN
• Not advised for use in the jet as this

method does not proceed direct to
the station
Direct to the Station TACAN Direct to Ground Track
• A basic, wind corrected method to
proceed direct to or away from a
TACAN
• This method will follow a direct

ground track to the station
• Procedure
• Tune / Identify / Twist
• When CDI drifts, change the
A/C heading to fly into the
deflected CDI
• Hold a crab angle to keep the
CDI centered
• This method should be used when
flying direct to a station
Direct to the Station (continued)
• Suppose you Tune up Vaziani’s TACAN while • Twist in the inbound course with the course set
heading North and you see the following on your knob (030)
HSI: • The CDI will now center up
• You are currently on the 210 radial for 40 • Turn to a heading of 030
miles • If there was no wind you could fly a heading and
• You decide you want to fly direct to the a course of 030 direct to the station
station • See the next page for a wind correction example
040 000 040 030

MILES COURSE MILES COURSE
N
W
S
Direct to the Station (continued) • You also don’t want to keep correcting for the wind the whole way back
• After flying a heading of 030 for 5 miles you • To find the proper crab angle, turn into the CDI 3 times the amount of deflection
notice the CDI has drifted to the right • In this case turn right to a heading of 045
approximate 5 degs, as shown below • Once the CDI starts correcting back left decrease your corrective heading until the
• It is apparent there is a right to left wind blowing CDI stabilizes
off the 030 course line direct to the station • Note your heading and the difference between the course you want (030) and your
• You want to continue to fly direct and not home current heading.
our way to the TACAN • In this case we are at a heading of 035, so we know our crab is 5 deg right
035 030 033 030

Direct to the Station (continued)
• Now that we have the crab angle of 5 deg, fly a
heading greater than the crab angle to finish
centering the CDI on the 030 course inbound
• Once centered reset the crab angle of 5 deg right
as shown below
028 030
MILES COURSE
Intercept a TACAN Radial
• Radial – these are the radio signals that emit • Say we want to intercept the Vaziani 252 Radial and then fly inbound to BAGEM
outward from the TACAN in all directions (360o) • We will start to the S on the 180 radial at 40 nm
• No matter if you are going toward or away from • You would have a display similar to the one below
the TACAN, the TAIL of the TACAN needle will tell
you what radial you are currently on
• Below you are headed NE away from the station
on the 060 radial for 35 nm
035 060 040 000

N
E
S
Intercept a TACAN Radial (continued) • Since we were on the 180 radial, we need to push the tail left 72 radials (252-180)
• The heading offset to use is a factor of how close you are to the TACAN and how
• Since we want to fly on the 252 radial inbound to many radials you need to cross
intercept BAGEM, we will turn our COURSE knob • A good rule of thumb for the heading offset is:
to the INBOUND course or reciprocal of the radial • Far from TACAN and large number of radials – Use 40-60 deg
• From the display below, we can see that we need • Mid range and medium number of radials – Use 30-40 deg
to head NW to push the needle to the right • Close range and small number of radials – Use 15-30 deg
• The tail of the needle will then begin to track left • Experience will help decide how aggressive you want to be in a given situation
towards the 252 radial • For this example we will use 50 degs so a heading of 310
040 072 040 072

N
W
S
Intercept a TACAN Radial (continued)
• As we continue on the 310 heading, the TACAN needle Head will begin falling toward 072 and the TACAN needle TAIL will begin rising
toward 252
• Below are depictions of a few changes in the HSI as we fly a heading of 310
• Initial the DME will decrease until we get abeam and then it will increase
033 072 036 072 038 072

MILES COURSE MILES COURSE MILES COURSE
• As we get closer to intercepting the radial we want to intercept we need to think about how to lead our turn
• A lead point in nautical miles can be calculated using the 10% rule and the 60 to 1 rule
• Both rules assume no greater that a 90 deg turn to intercept
• 10 % Rule – 10% of the A/C Ground Speed = the amount of lead in nautical miles
• For Example: My IAS shows 250 for the approach, but my GS shows 260.
• Lead point for intercept will be 2.6 nm
• 60 – 1 Rule
DME NM between radials
60 1 nm
50 5/6 nm
40 2/3 nm
30 1/2 nm
20 1/3 nm
10 1/6 nm
• We’re at approximately 40 nm so there are 2/3 nm per radial.

• Our lead point will be approximately 4 radials
• Now that we have our lead radial calculated we want to set that 90 deg intercept geometry as shown by the figure on the left below
• The outer most dot on the HSI represent 10 degs of CDI deflection and the inner 5 degs
• When the CDI gets just inside the 5 deg dot we should start our inbound turn
• The turn assumes a standard rate turn (level 30 deg angle of bank turn)
• 90 deg to intercept • Begin Turn • Rolled out on 072 course

• HDG 342 inbound (252 radial)
039 072 038 072 035 072
Point to Point TACAN Navigation PTP Navigation Example
• Point to point navigation is flying from one • We will use the same example as before staring on the Vaziani 180 radial at 50 nm
radial/dme direct to another only using the HSI • This time we want to go DIRECT to BAGEM (Vaziani 252 / 25 nm)
and TACAN • We will use what is called the pencil or finger method to determine the heading
• PTP Navigation can be very useful when you don’t needed to fly direct to BAGEM
have a WPT for a radial/dme cut off a TACAN that • See the next few pages
you want to fly to.
000 / 20nm 050 000

MILES COURSE
PTP Depiction
N
E
220 / 40 nm S
Point to Point TACAN Navigation (continued)
1. The best way to think of this method is that you are plotting where you want to go on the HSI 8. Visualize the half unit of measure along the radial (yellow X) to the west of the TACAN since we know
2. Your current location is the intersection of the TAIL of the needle and the inner circle on the HIS (orange circle) BAGEM is West on the 252
3. The TACAN location is the center of the HSI (red A/C) 9. Use a pencil to connect a line (cyan colored line) from intersection of the TAIL of the TACAN and the
4. Use the larger of the DMEs (50 nm)as the radius(dashed green line) of the inner HSI circle (depicted in blue) inner circle (orange circle)
5. The green dashed line is our reference unit of measure 10. Superimpose that imaginary line over the center of the HIS and it will point to your heading
6. We want to go to 25 nm so that’s a half unit of measure 11. In our case the direct heading to BAGEM is roughly 330
7. Spin in the radial you want go to in the course box
050 252 050 252 050 252

N N N
50 nm 50 nm 50 nm
W
W
E
E
S S S
• As we fly along our initial heading we can update our solution using the pencil method at described before
• Use the HSIs below to practice the pencil method
040 252 030 252 25 252

• Here’s the solutions: looks like the initial assessment was pretty good
• The last solution it what is called a CO-DME solution (see the next page for an explanation of CO DME)
040 252 030 252 25 252

• Here’s a top down look at the point to point 50 nm
• The two red Xs are the CO DME locations for this point to
point
• On this particular point to point we intersected the 25 nm
arc in two places
• One at a radial before the one we wanted
• The second will be at BAGEM 25 nm
25 252
MILES COURSE
BAGEM
** The angle between the 90

deg benchmark and the needle
will be equal to the angle
between the course line and
the 90 deg benchmark for a CO
DME solution
• Once you have nailed your PTP heading and flown through the point, you should see the CDI centered up
with the correct DME in the BOX
• This is depicted below
• If you remember that your location is always at the TAIL of the needle on the inner circle and the TACAN is
the center of the HSI, this method will be pretty easy
25 252
MILES COURSE

Narc, TACAN-HSI Navigation

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TACAN / HSI Navigation

• Does not follow a direct ground

• Not advised for use in the jet as this

• This method will follow a direct

040 000 040 030

035 030 033 030

035 060 040 000

040 072 040 072

033 072 036 072 038 072

• We’re at approximately 40 nm so there are 2/3 nm per radial.

• 90 deg to intercept • Begin Turn • Rolled out on 072 course

000 / 20nm 050 000

050 252 050 252 050 252

040 252 030 252 25 252

040 252 030 252 25 252

** The angle between the 90

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