Navigation: General, Radio Navigation, Instrumentation
Dead reckoning and charts
Understand latitude and longitude, magnetic variation and deviation, and the relationship between true, magnetic and compass directions. Study chart symbols, scale, relief, and the difference between a Mercator and a Lambert conformal chart. Know how to plot a course, measure distance and apply wind to obtain heading and ground speed, plus the one-in-sixty rule for track error correction.
Radio navigation
Know the principles of VOR (radials, TO/FROM, CDI indications), NDB/ADF (relative bearing, bearing to station), DME (slant range and ground speed), ILS (localizer, glideslope, markers) and GNSS use for VFR navigation. Understand how station passage and cone of confusion appear.
Instrumentation
Study the pitot-static instruments (airspeed indicator, altimeter, vertical speed indicator) and their errors (position, density, blockage), the gyroscopic instruments (attitude indicator, heading indicator, turn coordinator) and their power sources. Know magnetic compass errors: variation, deviation, and turning/acceleration errors (northerly turning error).
Traps
Questions often ask what the CDI shows when passing abeam a VOR, or the effect of a blocked pitot tube versus a blocked static port. Remember a blocked pitot leaves the ASI acting like an altimeter; a blocked static makes the ASI over-read in climb.
Rule of thumb
One-in-sixty: a 1 NM offset after 60 NM is a 1° track error; a 10° error over 30 NM puts you 5 NM off track.