I believe those are used for tracking your VOR inputs via the NAV menu
Think of them as QDMs to the stations you tuned on NAV1 and NAV2 which can be a VOR, an ILS, an NDB or the active fix on your Flight Plan (selected as GPS). These are also shown next to the ND when you are on the HUD view mode. There is a bug right now that bearing 1 and bearing 2 are showing different values when NAV1 and NAV2 are tuned to the same station.
See this section of the User Guide:
Found this answer after checking, because I wanted to report the same issue.
But on the Beta it’s already fixed.
On the status bar it’s useful, when you have the HUD turned off.
Otherwise they are, like already above mentioned, also shown right from the HSI.
In times when GPS didn’t exist, people were flying only by VOR’s, NDB’s.
So you literally only had paper maps with all those marked.
So when you have NAV1 tuned into one VOR and NAV2 tuned into another VOR, Bearing 1 and Bearing 2 show you the different azimuth angle relative from your plane to the specific VOR.
So when you only have a paper map and you have those two degree angles, you could draw a line over the VOR’s radials ( like here a line over the 38 degree from VOR1 and a line through the 304 degree radial of VOR2). The cross section then marks your position on the map. This way people could determine their position in the times before GPS and tablets.
When planning a solo GA flight, it is also useful to have two different VOR’s tuned in NAV1 and NAV2, so when you reached VOR1, you just can just switch over to NAV2, and choose your radial course you want to fly on and while you are flying to VOR2 you have time then to tune NAV1 to the next VOR on your route.
(Edit: @Petre2026 )
Of course it’s very useful and comfortable nowadays to navigate through GPS and I guess most people fly GPS only here, but it is (at least for me) interesting, once in a while, to fly and navigate by manually tuned in VOR’s and set course on the radials you want to fly on. Gives a better understanding of how VOR’s work.
So when the lateral deviation bar is left from the center, you know, the radial which you have tuned in on your NAV, is left from you. So you can either choose another radial, until the lateral deviation bar is centered again, when you just want to fly straight to the chosen VOR, or you have to fly more to the left for a while, until you catch the entered radial again.
(edit:) PS: And when using autopilot and using NAV, then the autopilot tries to hold course on the radial which you have chosen. It flies then this course even over the VOR, but then the HSI changes from TO to FROM, because you are moving away from the VOR on this radial.
Appreciate the tag! That’s actually super useful info. So basically it’s used for either triangulating (or di-angulating?) your position, and for basic directional headings?
It is my pleasure. You mentioned one day somewhere, that you still like to know more about VOR usage. Yes, you are right. Basically the main purpose is to navigate by flying on the chosen beacon to your destination. But when GPS didn’t exist yet, it was essential to know where you are and cross bearing was the only way.
I still do it once in a while here on IF to stay in practice.
The only difficult thing is the exact precision, because a map is showing the true north, while VOR’s are giving you the magnetic north/ direction and depending on your position on the globe that can deviate. So when you have a map/ chart with VOR’s implemented, the local magnetic deviation is already shown. (The red line I marked there is the true north on a map and the blue line is the magnetic north)
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