This document is “060 062 Radio Navigation,” part of the JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities) Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence Theoretical Knowledge Manual series, published by Oxford Aviation Training in association with Jeppesen. It is Book 11 in a fifteen book series covering the full ATPL syllabus, and it forms the second half of the Navigation subject, following General Navigation. The manual is approved as JAA compliant by the UK Civil Aviation Authority and follows the standard structure of the series: numbered chapters with worked explanations, diagrams, and end of chapter revision questions.
The book works through the major radio navigation aids used in commercial aviation. Early chapters cover basic direction finding techniques such as VDF (VHF direction finding), followed by detailed treatment of VOR (VHF omnidirectional range), including its transmission frequencies, identification methods, and site monitoring requirements. It then moves into radar principles, explaining how bearing and range are measured, the search light beam concept, and the tradeoffs involved in radar resolution between pulse length, beam width, and target discrimination.
Later sections address DME (distance measuring equipment), covering its interrogation frequencies, accuracy tolerances, and pairing with VOR stations, before progressing to more advanced systems including Decca and Global Navigation Satellite Systems. The GNSS chapter, likely covering NAVSTAR GPS, addresses satellite geometry and fixing accuracy, sources of error such as GDOP and ionospheric propagation, almanac and ephemeris data, and augmentation systems like LAAS and WAAS that correct for satellite based positioning errors.
Overall, the manual gives ATPL candidates a systematic, exam oriented grounding in how radio and satellite based navigation aids function, their technical limitations, and how they are used operationally in flight.
Password: flightcrewguide.com