Navigation: True and Magnetic

This “lesson” sucks. What’s up with that? This thread from the VerticalReference.com forums exemplifies the reason behind this entire site. Lots of good advice and knowledge was provided in that thread, but as the days and weeks go by, it moves further and further into the archives. All that potential wasted, and it won’t be long until somebody else comes along and asks the same question. The solution is for you to contribute to this knowledge-base so that when others come looking for answers, bing! here they are.

What’s in it for you? Teaching others is one of the best ways to learn, and in contributing or reviewing lessons, you may learn something you didn’t know. And it’s knowledge that’s going to keep you from needing your stick skills (or a lawyer) to save your butt. There’s also tremendous resistance in this trade to downward transfer of knowledge, even though many of those who “made it” wouldn’t have without some sort of a mentor. Professionals take pride in and see the value of training the next generation–just look at physicians, lawyers, engineers, scientists…. By participating in training, you are advancing rotorcraft aviation from a trade to a profession.

You can email me or post on the Feedback page if you have any problems, comments on the functionality of the site, or suggestions to make it easier to contribute to.

Definitions

• Course–
• Heading–
• True North–
• Magnetic North–

Objective(s)

Correctly determine and apply true course, true heading, magnetic course, and magnetic heading for pre-flight planning.

Description

• Explain courses…
• Explain headings…
• Differentiate true and magnetic north
• Apply above in a flight plan

Instructional aids

• METAR and/or Winds Aloft
• Sectional map
• Plotter
• Flight calculator

Content

• How would you teach this?

Application

Recommend practice problems