A heading-up radar display shows your aircraft at the centre pointing straight up, with several labelled contacts around it. Your task is to report the relative bearing to a named contact as a clock position, or, on the hardest setting, to convert it to a magnetic bearing using the displayed heading. Each picture is generated fresh, so practice builds the live mental rotation between what you see ahead and where things actually are.
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Radar orientation measures plan-view spatial awareness: reading a heading-up display to place each contact relative to your own nose, and converting that relative clock bearing into a magnetic bearing using your heading. It is the orientation skill behind traffic awareness and instrument situational picture-building.
Always read the relative clock position first, because the display is heading-up and the clock is just the on-screen angle: top is 12, right is 3, and so on. Only then, for a true bearing, add your heading. Keep the addition simple by rounding: heading 215 plus a 3 o'clock (090 relative) is 305 magnetic. Doing it in two clean steps beats trying to read the magnetic bearing directly.
On the relative settings, 9 or 10 correct out of 10 is the target, since the clock position is a direct read. On the hard setting, where you add heading to get a magnetic bearing, 7 or more out of 10 is a strong result. Errors there usually come from heading addition, not from misreading the clock, so practise the add-and-wrap step until it is automatic.
Aptitude tests get you through selection. The EASA ATPL theory exams come next, and SkyStudy is built for that phase.
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