Tips on Land & Air Navigation

Some people will get nothing from this article; others, I hope, will learn something.

There are a number of skills which I have worked on over my life; one of the most consistently useful has been my ability to locate and orient myself to my surroundings. I strongly urge everyone who plans on going outside of the areas which are most familiar to them to develop similar skills. If you are the type who buys firearms for survival or “apocalypse” type purposes, the ability to navigate should be as important to you as the firearms you buy, if not more.

Navigation, in its most basic form, is not very difficult. It requires a calm and clear head, and is greatly helped by a few basic tools, such as a map and compass. GPS comes in handy, but it has been unavailable to me for a variety of reasons at certain times throughout my life, and I do not completely rely on it as a result.

Examples of When Navigational Knowledge & Abilities Have Been Useful To Me

I don’t have any major tales of woe when it comes to this topic, really – only times when bad situations have been avoided, such as when the navigational instruments in my aircraft malfunctioned on a cross country flight near an international border and restricted military operation areas, and when I was trying to lose a plainclothes police tail my first night in Tunis during Tunisia’s “Arab Spring” revolution of last year. I also was in trouble at one point during a long and arduous solo hike through the desert.

In each case, I remained calm, studied maps or accessed memories of maps I had carefully studied prior to setting off on that particular adventure, identified terrain or other features which allowed me to determine my location, and set off in the proper direction to achieve whatever goal I had set for myself. It’s important to note that I avoid saying things like “I don’t get lost.” I do get lost. I just manage to get un-lost relatively well. With preparation and experience, practically anyone can do the same.

During the 24 Hour Sniper Adventure Challenge, a significant portion of the event took place at night – and after the moon had set. Like many of the other teams, my partner and I became disoriented. It was completely dark. There were, at first glance, no easy ways to determine which ridge and which valley was which. A number of teams got lost at this time.

However, we managed to climb to the top of a ridge, identify a cluster of lights near a far-off highway as a small town on our map, determine a reverse azimuth from that town, and then identify terrain features on the map which matched where we stood – a spur surrounded on three sides by dense forest. With the knowledge of our location in hand, we pushed on to the next checkpoint and maintained a healthy lead over most of the other teams. It would be quite accurate to say that land navigation knowledge played a large role in that particular competition.

Some Tips On Navigation

Without turning this into a massive diatribe on navigation – for which I simply, and unfortunately, do not have time to write – here are some basic tips that I have found to be helpful:

– Bring maps (or charts). Paper maps that don’t have batteries. Study them before you leave.

– Take an active role in planning whatever you are doing or going along with. Even if you possess a clear and analytical mind, if you weren’t paying attention during a route briefing or something similar, you’re going to be well behind the curve. If you’re planning the route, pick something that has lots of recognizable landmarks along the way.

– Pay attention to where you’re going. You should definitely enjoy the view, but not so much that you start wandering mindlessly.

– Use multiple methods of navigation when available. GPS, ded. reckoning, etc. If one becomes unavailable – due to power failure or sunset – you will still be able to seamlessly transition to the other. If you have to pause while you switch from one system to another, especially in a moving vehicle like an airplane, you may end up with bigger problems.

– Admit that you might get lost and take steps to avoid it. If you do get lost, admit that you are lost as soon as you can. The sooner you do this, the sooner you can start figuring out where you are. If you insist that you know where you are when you don’t, and you keep going, you are an idiot.

– Remain calm. Yeah, you’re lost. But chances are that you’re not totally screwed yet. You brought a map, right? Maybe even a compass, if you’re out in the woods. If you didn’t, you might still be able to backtrack to a place that you remember. In the wilderness you might try following your footprints – just make sure that they’re your footprints. In an urban area, traveling along a road and passing stores, signs, parked cars, etc that you’ve seen before can jog your memory and put you back on the right track. In the air, you should have some visual reference points, assuming you’re flying VFR. If you’re going IFR and you get lost, use whatever navigational instruments you have. If that fails, go to the next tip.

– Ask for help. Put your head together with your companions, seek out knowledgeable local individuals, etc. If you are in a foreign country, identify which uniformed personnel are most likely to help you. In most quality countries, being helpful to tourists is seen as a virtue. In Tunisia I quickly learned which type of uniform wanted to help me, and which type of uniform was more entertained by pointing their beat-up, but loaded and functional, Steyr AUGs at me and laughing. In the air, attempt to contact a Center or Flight Watch and give them your last known position, as well as heading – they’ll help you out pretty quickly, if your transponder is working. I’d recommend Flight Watch because the frequency is a constant and there’s generally a lot less radio traffic.

– When you do figure out where you are, and are trying to determine where you need to go, stay on a route that will be easy to navigate, if possible. Taking a shortcut through the brush might seem like a good idea, but it could easily get you lost again. Remember those recognizable landmarks. If you can’t identify those very well, keep heading in one direction. One of the more challenging navigational exercises I’ve undertaken was navigating through the city of Milan, Italy. The streets changed names every few hundred yards (meters?), it seemed. Eventually, I gave up and just told my fellow American behind the wheel to “drive that way.” It worked, for the most part.

If there is interest – and if I have time – I may write articles or make videos about navigation/orienteering for pilots, hikers etc. I just don’t have the time to do so right now. I hope that these tips have been helpful to some readers, and have perhaps sparked an interest in the topic.