> Student pilots today are still taught to navigate via dead reckoning (compass and stopwatch) and pilotage (looking out the window and identifying prominent la

> Student pilots today are still taught to navigate via dead reckoning (compass and stopwatch) and pilotage (looking out the window and identifying prominent landmarks). The first license anyone gets, the "PPL", Private Pilot's License, only allows for flying under VFR/VMC—i.e., nice weather: > In aviation, visual meteorological conditions (VMC) is an aviation flight category in which visual flight rules (VFR) flight is permitted—that is, conditions in which pilots have sufficient visibility to fly the aircraft maintaining visual separation from terrain and other aircraft. They are the opposite of instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The boundary criteria between IMC and VMC are known as the VMC minima and are defined by: visibility, cloud ceilings (for takeoffs and landings), and cloud clearances. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_meteorological_conditions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_meteorological_conditio... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_flight_rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_flight_rules So you kind of have to know where are and where you're going by sight, and every pilot learns it, even if they eventually may move on if they're planning on making a career of it. The next step is generally getting a rating to be able to fly by instruments: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_flight_rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_flight_rules