Navigation

 navigation - the science and technology of

determining the position of an aircraft with respect to
the surface of the earth and accurately maintaining a
desired course
 Navigation

“Aviate,navigate,and communicate.”

• primarily fly the airplane safely and accurately;

• navigate correctly; and
• attend to the radio and other aspects of your duty in the cockpit.

Navigating an airplane is three-dimensional—you must think of altitude (vertical

navigation) as well as direction (horizontal navigation). Also, you must think of time.
 Horizontal Navigation

Visual Navigation

Pilotage:
• is determining position by correlating chart information with what is seen on
the ground.
• Learning to match shapes of lakes and rivers as seen out the window from
aloft to how they look on the chart
• the ability to chart-read is restricted in poor visibility or if above partial
cloud cover, and at night.
• tells you where you are at the moment.

Dead reckoning:
• is determining position by calculating headings, distances and times.
• DR solutions, figured out during preflight, tell you where (and when) you
should be somewhere, and about when to be looking for a particular feature
on the ground.

When navigating, pilotage and DR always go together. Using the two methods
together always produces more accurate navigation
 Horizontal Navigation

Visual Navigation

Navigation with Electronic Aids

• Navigation may use radio equipment installed in the airplane and tuned to
ground- based or satellite radio beacons.

• This enables the pilot to fly along radio position lines, without visual
reference to the ground, although pilotage should always be used to back
up radio navigation when the ground can be seen.

• Typical navigation systems are VOR, NDB, and DME, with the more
advanced area navigation systems of LORAN C, RNAV and GPS.

• TheVFR pilot may use these navigation aids to assist in visual navigation.
 Horizontal Navigation

Before Flight
Being properly prepared is essential if a cross-country flight is to be successful.
Always flight plan carefully and meticulously. This sets up an accurate base against
which you can measure your in-flight navigation performance. Preflight
consideration should be given to the following items:

1. serviceability of your watch or aircraft clock. Time is vital to accurate

navigation;
2. Contents of your“navbag”,including, pencils, flight computer, protractor and
scale (or a plotter), suitable aeronautical charts, and relevant flight information
publications;
3. preparation of the appropriate maps and charts;
4. desired route;
5. terrain en route;
6. airspace en route (Class B, C, D, E, G, special use);
7. suitability of the destination airport and any alternate airports;
8. forecast weather en route and at the destination and alternate airports (plus
any reports of actual weather that might be available);
9. calculation of accurate headings, groundspeeds and estimated time intervals;
10. consideration of fuel consumption, and accurate fuel planning.
 Horizontal Navigation

In Flight
Since you spent considerable time preparing an accurate flight plan, it is
important to fly the plan accurately.
1. Flying a reasonably accurate heading
2. Maintaining cruise airspeed
3. Comparing your progress and actual times of arrival at various fixes
 Horizontal Navigation

Speed
• Speed is the rate at which distance is covered, or more precisely, distance per unit time.
• The standard unit for speed is the knot, (abbreviated kt). 1 knot equals 1 nautical mile
per hour.
• The speed of the airplane through the air is its true airspeed (TAS), which may have to be
calculated from the indicated airspeed (IAS) using a flight computer, or obtained from
tabulated values in the Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH).
• TAS is the actual speed of the airplane relative to the air mass.
• Because of the design of the airspeed indicator in the airplane, the airspeed that it
indicates is usually less than the true airspeed because of the lower air density at
altitude.
 Vertical Navigation

Definitions

Heading
• is the direction in which the aircraft is pointing.
• Is defined as the direction in which the fore and aft axis of the aircraft is pointing; it may be
measured from True, Magnetic, or Compass North.

Track
• is the direction of the aircraft’s path over the ground. It may be measured from True or
Magnetic North.

Port and Starboard

• ‘Port’ is left (easy to remember - ‘Port’ has 4 letters and so does ‘left’). ‘Starboard’ is right.

Course
• to mean track - the direction of the aircraft’s path over the ground.
course may sometimes be used in formal examinations to mean ‘desired track’.

Bearing
• A bearing is the direction from your location to any distant point given in degrees from
north.
 Horizontal Navigation

Achieving the Desired Course (CRS)

Your objective during visual navigation is to steer a heading so that the track
made good over the ground exactly overlies the desired course.

Using the planned true airspeed, you will be able to calculate the heading
required to “make good” the desired course by applying a wind correction
angle (WCA) into the wind to counteract drift.

Later on during the flight you may find that, even though you have flown the
HDG/TAS accurately, your actual ground track differs from the desired course;
in other words there is a tracking error.

This error could be specified as either distance off-course, or degrees off

course.

The tracking error is most likely caused by the actual wind being.

You will then have to make adjustments to the HDG in order to achieve your
desired course.
Vertical Navigation
 Vertical Navigation

Vertical Navigation
• For terrain clearance
• For Traffic Separation
• Calculate Performance Capabilities
 Vertical Navigation

VFR Cruise Altitude

To separate different types of

traffic, Part 91 specifies
that aircraft flying higher than
3’000 feet above the surface (AGL)
according to the Visual Flight Rules
(VFR) should cruise at

“full thousands plus 500 feet.”

.
 Vertical Navigation

Safety Altitude
minimum safe altitudes (MSA)
• minimum of 500 feet above the surface in non-congested areas
• 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a 2,000 feet radius in
congested and mountainous areas
To determine a safety altitude determine the highest obstacle en route to a
set amount either side of course, then add a safety clearance altitude
above this.

Time
Time is of great importance to the air navigator, and the clock is one of the
basic instruments used in the cockpit.
Time enables you to:
• regulate affairs on board your airplane;
• measure the progress of your flight;
• compute arrival time (ETA) at certain positions;
• calculate a safe endurance for flight and manage fuel consumption;
• estimate when weather conditions at the destination are likely to
improve or get worse;
• measure rest periods between flights.
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH

The simple view of the shape of the Earth is that it is a sphere, and this is
nearly true. In fact, the Earth’s shape is commonly described as an oblate
spheroid, that is, a sphere which is slightly flattened at its poles.
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

BASIC DIRECTION ON THE EARTH

• These directions, North, South, East and West are known as Cardinal
Points.
• North-East (NE), South-East (SE), South-West (SW) , and North-West
(NW). These directions are known as the Quadrantal directions.
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

SEXAGESIMAL SYSTEM / TRUE DIRECTION

The Sexagesimal system utilizes the fact that a clockwise rotation of direction
from North through East, South and West and back to North is a circle of 360
degrees.

Reciprocal directions. In navigation subjects, it is necessary frequently to

calculate the reciprocal of a given direction, ie, that direction which is 180°
opposite to the direction given.
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

Great Circle:
• A circle on the surface of the earth whose centre and radius are those of
the earth itself is called a Great Circle.
• It is called ‘great’ because a disc cut through the earth in the plane of the
Great Circle would have the largest area that can be achieved.
• The shortest distance between two points on the Earth’s surface is the
shorter arc of the Great
• Circle joining the two points.
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

A Rhumb Line is a regularly curved line on the surface of the Earth

which cuts all meridians at the same angle - a line of constant
direction.
DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

The EQUATOR
The Great Circle whose plane is at 90° to the axis of rotation of the
earth (the polar axis) is called the Equator. It lies in an East-West
direction and divides the earth equally into two hemispheres. For the
definition of position on the Earth, the Equator is the datum for defining
Latitude and is the equivalent of the X axis of the Cartesian system.

The MERIDIANS
Meridians are semi-Great circles joining the North and South poles.
All meridians indicate True North-South direction.

The PRIME (OR GREENWICH) MERIDIAN

The meridian passing through Greenwich is known the Prime Meridian .
The Prime Meridian is the datum for defining Longitude and is the
equivalent of the Y axis of the Cartesian system.

PARALLELS OF LATITUDE
The parallels of latitude are small circles on the surface of the earth whose
planes are parallel to the Equator. They lie in an East-West direction. Their
function is to indicate position North or South of the Equator.
DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE
DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

Lines of Latitude

Artic Circle- it marks the northernmost point at which the sun appears above the
level of the horizon on the winter solstice

Tropic of Cancer -also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly
circle of latitude on the Earth at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its
culmination.

Equator - an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole
and South Pole, dividing the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern
Hemisphere.

Tropic of Capricorn -or the Southern Tropic, is the circle of latitude that contains
the subsolar point on the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost
latitude where the Sun can be directly overhead.

Antarctic Circle - The area south of the Antarctic Circle is known as the Antarctic.
and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone.

Lines of Latitude
A prime meridian is a meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographical coordinate
system at which longitude is defined to be 0°.
 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

The Relationship Between Longitude and Time

• In one day, the earth makes about one complete rotation of 360° with
respect to the chosen celestial body, which is the sun.
• 360° of longitude in 24 hours is equivalent to 15° per hour.

Axis of rotation 23.44 digress from right angle to orbit

 DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

UTC is the local mean time at the 0° meridian of longitude that runs
through the observatory at Greenwich, England, and is known as the prime
meridian. Until recently the international time standard was the well known
Greenwich MeanTime (GMT).This term has now been replaced by
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is also known as Zulu (Z). UTC is a
universal time, and all aeronautical communications around the world are
expressed in UTC.

Standard or Local Time

Standard times operate in a similar fashion to time zones in that all clocks
in a given geographical area are set to the local mean time of a given
standard meridian.This is known as standard time or local time for that
area.
DIRECTION, LATITUDE and LONGITUDE
 Earth Magnetism

TRUE DIRECTION is what is shown on maps. If you need to fly from, one point to
another, you draw a straight line on the map between the two points and measure
its direction.

MAGNETIC DIRECTION
Because the centre of the Earth is still cooling down, at its centre is a mass of
molten liquid. This has the effect of making the Earth act magnetically as though
there were a huge bar magnet running through it, aligned fairly closely to the North
and South True poles.
 Earth Magnetism

MAGNETIC NORTH
Magnetic North is the horizontal direction indicated by a freely suspended magnet
influenced only by the Earth’s magnetic field. This direction is sometimes referred to as
the ‘magnetic meridian’ at that point.
MAGNETIC DIRECTION
Magnetic Direction is measured from magnetic North clockwise through 360°, and is
suffixed by the letter ‘M’, e.g. 043(M) and 270(M).
TRUE NORTH
is the direction along the earth's surface towards the geographic North poles
 Earth Magnetism

VARIATION
• Variation is the angular
difference between the
directions of True and Magnetic
North at any point.
• Variation is the angle between
True and Magnetic North and is
measured in degrees East or
West from True North.

DEVIATION
• This is for the difference
between Magnetic North and
the direction that a compass
needle points.
• Deviation is defined as the
angle measured at a point
between the direction indicated
by a compass needle and the
direction of Magnetic North.
• When deviations are quoted as
plus or minus they are to be
applied to the compass heading
in order to give magnetic
heading.
Earth Magnetism

When Magnetic direction is the same as True direction the

variation is nil; otherwise Magnetic North direction may lie either

to the West or East of the True North Direction.

Earth Magnetism

When Magnetic direction is the same as True direction the

variation is nil; otherwise Magnetic North direction may lie either

to the West or East of the True North Direction.

Earth Magnetism

Deviation is the angle between Magnetic North and

Compass North measured in degrees East or West from

Magnetic North.
Earth Magnetism

Deviation is the angle between Magnetic North and

Compass North measured in degrees East or West from

Magnetic North.
Earth Magnetism
Earth Magnetism
Earth Magnetism
 Navigation Using the 1 in 60 Rule

If you find that you have strayed from track, it may be for a variety of reasons.
You could have failed to fly the flight plan heading accurately enough, or possibly
made too shallow a turn from the last track when over the initial turning point.

• planned track - The track you intended to fly.

• track made good (or TMG) - The track you actually make over the ground
(presumably because the actual wind is different from the forecast)
• Track Error Angle - the difference between them.
Navigation Using the 1 in 60 Rule
Navigation Using the 1 in 60 Rule
Navigation Using the 1 in 60 Rule
Navigation Using the 1 in 60 Rule