Chart
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The chart is drawn in magnetic north, like the radials of a VOR. Drag the aircraft or the VOR station with mouse or finger.
The shaded halves show where the flag reads TO (orange) and FROM (cyan) for the course set in the OBS. The dashed line through the station is where the flag flips.
Keyboard (click the chart first): ← → heading 5° (Shift 1°), [ ] OBS 1° (Shift 10°), Space play or pause.
Instruments
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Heading indicator: where the nose points. It has nothing to do with the VOR indication.
VOR / CDI: the OBS card sets the course. The needle shows where that course line is: needle right means the course is to your right. Each dot is 2°, full scale is 10°.
HSI: same information, but the card turns with your heading. Because the course arrow turns too, there is no reverse sensing. The HSI has 2 dots each side, 5° per dot.
Tip: drag sideways on the VOR instrument or use the mouse wheel to twist the OBS.
Closure GS is the rate along the line to the station, not your groundspeed. On a DME arc it reads almost zero.
Position readouts are hidden during this exercise.
Airspeed and wind
Training
Two stations are on the chart and the aircraft is hidden. Center both needles with a FROM flag to read your radial from each station, then click where the two radials cross. That crossing point is your position, no distance needed.
Pick a mission, read the brief, then press Play and fly it with the heading controls. Stay within one dot to fill the progress bar.
The demo flies the classic CDI/OBS technique: turn 10° toward or away from the station each time the distance drifts about 1 NM, and twist the OBS by the same 10° so the needle re-centres as a cross-check. Move the heading or OBS yourself at any time to take back control.
Move things around and let the coach explain what the instruments are telling you. Everything updates live.
Position fixing and distance
Cross fix: position from two stations
One VOR tells you which line you are on, never where along it. Add a second station and you get a second line: they cross in exactly one point, and that is your position. No distance information needed.
The quality of the fix depends on the cut angle. Near 90° the crossing is sharp; below about 30° the two lines run almost parallel and a 2° error smears your position for miles. Pick stations that are well apart in bearing.
Identify both stations. A fix is only as good as its worst radial, and an unidentified station can be under maintenance and transmitting rubbish.
DME: distance, closure and arcs
A DME measures the slant range from the aircraft to the station, not the distance over the ground. Right overhead at 6000 ft the DME still reads about 1 NM. The error matters within roughly 3 times your height above the station and is negligible further out. This simulator models ground distance, so overhead the reading goes to zero.
The DME groundspeed is a closure rate, measured along the line to the station. It only equals your groundspeed when you fly straight at or straight away from it. Fly a DME arc and it drops to nearly zero even at 120 kt, which is the single most misread number on the panel.
Flying an arc: turn until the station is 90° off the wing, then keep it there. Each time the distance drifts about 1 NM, turn roughly 10° toward or away from the station. The arc becomes a series of short straight legs, a "turn ten, twist ten" rhythm.
The "twist": with classic CDI/OBS instrumentation (no RMI needed), twist the OBS by the same 10° each time you turn. The needle re-centres and confirms you are established on the new short leg, your cross-check that the turn was the right size. Try the DME arc mission's auto-fly demo to see the whole rhythm flown hands-free.
During maintenance a VOR may still transmit but with the ident removed (in the US it may send TST). Never navigate on a VOR you have not identified.