Category: General Navigation

Measurement of Distance on Earth Surface Distance Measurement for Air Navigation Distance measurement is important for pilots to keep track of aircraft position Horizontal distances are measured in Nautical Miles, Kilometres or Statute Miles Vertical distances are measured in feet or meters Nautical Mile One nautical mile is the length of a meridian subtending an angle of 1 minute of arc at its centre of curvature At equator, curvature of earth is maximum Since highly curved lines require lesser distance per unit angle, the length of nautical mile is minimum…

Great Circle and Rhumb Line Tracks Vertex of a Great Circle Vertices are the northern and southern most points of a great circle Northern vertex is the point on the great circle that is closest to the north pole Southern vertex is the point on the great circle that is closest to the south pole The northern and southern vertices are antipodal or diametrically opposite points The distance between the vertices along the great circle track would be half the earth circumference Flight along a great circle would result in…

Position Reference System using Latitude and Longitude Requirement of Position Reference System Position Reference System to denote a place on earth without ambiguity It is similar to Cartesian co-ordinate system which uses X and Y axis Latitudes and longitudes are used in the position reference system Great Circles Great circles are imaginary lines or circles drawn on the surface of earth The centre and radius of a Great Circle are the same as that of earth Plane of a great circle cuts earth into two equal halves Only one great…