Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Workload; Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Aircraft; Procedure
The above MEL required flying with no FMS; and navigation only by VOR.We tried for over an hour to get proper routing that would allow us to fly to ZZZ via acceptable routing that would allow for proper navigation via VOR/victor airways. Center would not allow acceptable routing. This made our release unreliable for time and fuel calculations. It also meant we did not have redundancy in our navigation. On multiple occasions ATC tried to re-route us and fly RNAV routing. A number of VOR's would not identify automatically and we needed to listen to the Morse code to identify each station. The autopilot would not track the victor airways properly. The autopilot would drift left and right of course. We resorted to using HDG mode and our [electronic tablets] for navigation.We do very little training flying a jet at 36;000 ft. flying solely on VOR navigation. The implications of not having an FMS; are not made very clear in the MEL. For example; no fuel planning; no vertical navigation; what VOR beacons are acceptable for high altitude operations; what does ATC actually go by (understand) versus what the MEL states.Resorted to using HDG mode; radar vectors; and our iPads to guide the aircraft. This report is primarily being done for pre-emptive measures for any deviations and to have the company not use antiquated technology for primary navigation.It should be company policy to not conduct revenue flights without two forms of navigation or without an FMS. It is hard to believe that there were no other available aircraft for use for our flight. ATC needs to be made more aware of when an aircraft is non-RNAV capable as we needed to tell each controller the situation.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
CRJ flight crew reported that the MEL required flying without use of the FMS; so the flight was conducted using VOR and electronic tablets for navigation.