I have been doing a lot of reading into IFR navigation, and have been looking at the various instruments and systems that are used. I am going to exclude GPS here, as I have been focussing on some of the more 'old-school' methods.
My question is, if a private pilot decided to fly their GA aircraft from A to B, lets say a distance of 500nm, what IFR systems would they use to navigate?
My first answer myself would be VOR, but the range seems to be a limiting factor. For example, high altitude VORs have a maximum range of roughly 130nm (http://flighttraining.aopa.org/magazine/2000/December/200012_Features_The_ABCs_Of_VORs.html). If we were flying between two major cities, this wouldn't be an issue, as I would expect plenty of stations to track to on the way, but what if I was flying between two airports where the VOR stations were positioned 300nm apart? Is this sort of IFR navigation only possible with GPS?
Thanks in advance.