confused about v3 navigation

[ADavis79]

Hi-

I just attempted my V-3 rating and failed because I wasn't following the LAX VOR radial. I watched the video tutorial and created a flight plan that would take me right over the coastal route magenta arrows, because I believed they were lined up with the radial. SoCal Approach advised me that I was 3 miles off course. Are we supposed to fly heading 240 all the way to the radial? I use all kinds of tools to create very precise flight plans. (AirTrack, FS Widgets Quickplan, etc) Am I engaging in overkill?

[Nelson L.]

Way overthinking (with the wrong philosophy behind your thinking). There is no need for all those tools when using only Skyvector and myflightroute.com (TEC Routes) you can create pinpoint accurate plans using RNAV waypoints, radials, VORs, NDBs, and geographical landmarks.The navigation (coastal route) consists of tracking the LAX 123 radial inbound, then the 323 radial outbound. You need to be established on the 303 course inbound to LAX (coming from SNA) before entering the Bravo. You would contact Socal soon after being released from the SNA departure controller approaching the Vincent St. Thomas Bridge (or, if your scenery doesn't have it, find a geographical landmark to use - it's a coast after all). The time it takes you to get to the point of contact (i.e. the bridge) depends on your speed, if you asked for a local departure, etc... The controllers would clear you through the LAX Bravo via the Coastal Route. Via the Coastal Route means that you're cleared into the Bravo on the coastal route - a specific track that provides no interference to arrival and departure flows. You'll be released near the mountains at the outside the outer Bravo shelf. You would then presumably come back to TOA through something like the mini-route. This information (i.e. how to fly the transition) can be found on the LAX TAC chart on Skyvector.com (scroll to far left of TAC chart - must be TAC, not World VFR, etc...). Bravo transitions (or any transition for that matter) are virtually never flown through dead reckoning or plotting your own course that "follows" the magenta arrow. The magenta arrows represent the path of the route, not the actual route itself. Haven't watched it lately, but I'm almost certain (99.999%) that it demonstrates tracking the LAX radials, which could have been mistaken as headings. Frooglesim's V3 video was quite helpful for me in preparing for the radio work involved. Hope you pass on your next attempt

From Skyvector

[stealthbob]

As a newb myself I think i can offer some insight...

You really don't need any flight planner or other programming, staying real simple by by tracking VOR radials is all you need.

Take off from KSNA as directed and then just fly on a pretty direct intercept to the inbound LAX radial of 123. Fly that (with auto pilot if it helps) to the LAX VOR then outbound on the 323 all the way out.

I used a flight plan loaded in my GPS but for distances, it helped when I had to call out inbound distance when contacting approach.

[ADavis79]

Thanks to both of you for your comments. I passed my V3 rating just yesterday. I haven't seen it posted yet, but I'm sure it will be soon.