PLT091: VOR Navigation
What code PLT091 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study VOR Navigation before your checkride.
Interpret VOR / CDI - illustrations / indications / procedures
What this means for your checkride
This covers reading a VOR and its course deviation indicator: setting a course with the omni bearing selector, centering the needle, and using the TO/FROM flag to know which side of the station you are on. The needle shows how far off the selected radial you are, and it senses position, not heading, so it reads the same no matter which way the airplane points.
VOR interpretation is a core navigation skill, so the FAA tests whether you can determine your radial, intercept and track a course, and correctly read TO/FROM indications.
A classic error is chasing the needle by turning toward it while flying away from the station with a FROM indication. Because VOR is heading-independent, you have to know your position relative to the station before the needle means anything.
Where to study it
Practice questions on this code
Real questions from the Aviator IQ bank that test this exact area. Answer each to see the correct choice, the full rationale, and the FAA source.
How is a VOR radial best defined?
Oral checkride defense
A code on your report is an area the examiner can revisit. Here is how an examiner might probe it, and how to explain it out loud.
Set up and track the 090 radial inbound to a VOR. Talk me through it.
Tune and identify the station by its Morse code, then twist the OBS. To fly inbound on the 090 radial you track the 270 course with a TO indication, center the needle, and correct toward it. The CDI shows position relative to the course and is independent of heading, so I fly the airplane to center the needle.
Your CDI shows FROM with the needle centered. What does that tell you?
I am on the selected radial, flying away from the station. If I meant to go to the station I would expect a TO flag, so a FROM here means I set the reciprocal or I am on the far side. I would reset the OBS to a TO indication before navigating to the station.
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.