Similarly, note the arrows by the 30°, 60°, 90° marks and the rest of the way around the compass rose. They all point away from the station. Radials are always away from the station.

There is only one line on the chart for each numbered radial for a particular VOR station. Whether you are flying it outbound or inbound, or crossing it, a radial is always in the same place.

The only possible complication lies in the reciprocity of the numbers. Whenever you are proceeding outbound, your magnetic course (and heading when there is no wind) will be the same number as the radial. Turn around and fly inbound you must mentally reverse the numbers and physically reverse the OBS setting so that your course is now the reciprocal of the radial. But the radial you are flying on hasn't changed.

Navigating the VOR

Now lets try to explain some things when you are in the air flying and trying to Navigate the VOR.  Your constant heading is 330 after taking off and doing a Right turn to try to intersect the 330 radial of the VOR.

In this exercise you just departed Ava, Missouri, that is the Class E airspace on the bottom right side. You departed heading South East.  You wish to head in the general direction of Springfield, MO and we want to track the Dogwood VOR.  The frequency and the VOR name is located inside the BLUE Box, the frequency is found in the lower left corner (109.4).  To get to Springfield you think you should fly about heading 330.  So you have turned your plane around and are now heading NW on a heading of 330 as indicated by you Heading Indicator (Box A).

First of all lets find where we are.  We stated above that all radials run FROM the VOR.  The radials are always constant they never change directions or move left or right. 

Once you complete your right turn your VOR Gauge will indicate something like Box E.  Note that the heading on the VOR Gauge and the Heading on your Heading Indicator both read 330.  Note the little diamond is facing towards the VOR (front of the plane).  So to get to the radial we need  to turn to the left to try to intersect the radial we desire.  Once we have intersected the radial the VOR Gauge will look like Box B.  We are now flying on a heading of 330 and tracking the correct radial.  Wow that was easy!  Not So Fast! Are we actually on the 330 radial of the VOR?  NO WE ARE NOT.  We are actually on the 150 radial of the VOR.  We said early that all radials run FROM the VOR.  So when you have a TO indication or the little diamond is facing towards the nose of the plane you have to think of 330's reciprocal, or just look opposite the 330 and we have 150.  Now you say that is crazy, why do I need to know that?  You have heard me say no pilot is ever lost, we are just temporarily misplaced. I will explain this in a moment.

Now you have placed your plane where Box B is located and you see you needle is drifting and starting to look like box D.  This means you have blown off course and are to the left of the radial you wish to be on.  We need to turn to the right to get back on course.

Once we over overfly the VOR we get an OBS that looks like BOX F.  This tells us we are fly on the 330 degree radial FROM the VOR. Are we now on the 330 degree radial of the VOR?  YES WE ARE!  Remember a from indication tells us where we are.  330 from the VOR and now located North West.

Ooops we have plane problems and need to return to Ava.  Our chart is in the passenger seat but no big deal we know from flying this area that the Ava airport is really close to the 90 degree radial from the Dogwood VOR.  So we turn the OBS knob and set it for 090 or due East (Box H).  Now the Tricky part.  This is where you get into reverse sensing.  There is a rule:

Anytime the OBS Heading is different from the your Heading Indicator in the plane by more than 30 degrees we must turn away from the Needle to come in line with the radial we have set on the OBS.

Take a look at the Box H.  We know that Ava sets east of the VOR.  If you turn towards the need you are taking the long way around and if your circle back to Ava is to large you fly right by Ava and intersect the 90 degree radial east of Ava.  If we turn away from the needle and approach the VOR from the west trying to intersect the 90 degree radial we will overfly the VOR and fly just to the north of the airport.  The left turn to the radial is the correct method.

Never lost Explanation:

Let me explain why this is.  If you have your chart and knew exactly where you were 5 minutes ago you can look in that general vicinity and see if there is a VOR close by.  Tune in the frequency of the VOR and identify it by listening to the Morse Code.  If we spin the OBS knob and it lines up like Box C (150 From, notice the little diamond facing toward the rear of the plane) we are on the 150 degree radial from the VOR telling us we are South East of the VOR.  Once we cross the VOR and want to find where we are take a look at Box F (330 From) we are now on the 330 degree radial from the VOR or North East of the VOR.  Once thing to remember is if you are flying on a heading of 330 and your OBS is set to 150 you will be reverse sensing.  You should always once you have found the where you are from the VOR turn the OBS to the same heading you are flying with when the needle is centered.  The needle will swing left or right when you spin it but once you set in 150's reciprocal (330) the needle will come back inline.

Not paying attention to your OBS when flying VOR to VOR and not realizing you are reverse sensing can waste valuable time.  If you turn towards the needle when it is reverse sensing you will getting further and further away from you intended course.  If you are low on fuel this can be dangerous to you and your passengers health.