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Old 18th Jun 2019, 12:23
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double_barrel
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: 5Y
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Originally Posted by scifi
The strange thing about Aero-Navigation is that we always fly towards a beacon.
Nautical Navigation involves NOT sailing towards a lighthouse, as they would soon become littered with beached ships. Ships rely upon finding the bearing, then calculating what the bearing should be in ten minutes time. It requires the use of a large chart table, pencils, and geometric instruments.
Our main worry is that many other pilots will also be tracking towards the same beacon, so you need to keep a good lookout, and listen to the radio, when getting close to the overhead.
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Actually, it is common to sail towards an object such as a lighthouse. Incredibly accurate and very simple pilotage, accounting for currents and wind, can be done by simply keeping something on a fixed bearing using a hand bearing compass, then when something else comes onto some other pre-defined bearing, you alter course for that. With some good prep you can thread your way through hidden rocks with extreme accuracy and without touching a chart. You can also use transits to fix and maintain a line that is perfectly accurate, takes complete account of wind and current, and does not even require a compass. These traditional methods can be more accurate and simpler than GPS but they do require some preparation and planning and as we get lazy they are less often used.

You can maybe see how I made the mistake of thinking that an NDB was the aviation equivalent of a lighthouse and the ADF was the equivalent of a hand bearing compass!
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