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Subject: Re: course, heading, track
From: Brian Whatcott (inet@XXX.XXX)
Date: Thu Feb 07 2002 - 19:12:42 EST
At 07:04 AM 2/7/02, Trevor Kenchington wrote:
>... aviation terminology does not
>distinguish between what we surface-bound types call "heading" and
>"course". Are aircraft so stable in yaw that the distinction is not needed?
>...
>Trevor Kenchington
Trevor here asks a leading question. This does seem to be
a salient difference between air pilots and sailors in general.
For the airborne, a persistant yaw is a symptom of ineptitude, or much
worse, a consequence of asymmetric thrust. Their object is to cross
country without yaw. Their higher speed exacts a bigger penalty for
yawing.
For the sea-borne, a persistant yaw is an unavoidable consequence
of sailing at any point off a following wind (if then).
For one then the difference between the bearing of a destination and the
heading is a compensation for cross wind: the other needs to compensate
for yaw due to wind sidethrust, and for tidal/current set as well.
One supposes that an air pilot might undercompensate for cross wind when
sailing, and a sailboat skipper might overcompensate for cross wind when
flying.
Brian Whatcott
Altus OK Eureka!
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