On Aug 30, 12:45 pm, "Bob Gardner" wrote:
Can I inject a little sanity to this thread? The AIM's Pilot/Controller
Glossary says that bearing is "The horizontal direction to or from any
point, usually measured clockwise from true north, magnetic north, or some
other reference point, through 360 degrees." It defines course as "The
intended flight direction in the horizontal plane measured in degreee from
north."

Bearing has nothing to do with direction of travel. If a controller says
"You have traffic at three o'clock," that traffic is on a bearing of 90
degrees from you.

That is incorrect, or to say it in a better way, partially correct.
You are describing relative bearing.
Remember the old formula to work with ADF bearings:
Magnetic Bearing = Magnetic Heading + Relative Bearing (to a station).

As it has been mentioned before, the bearing (to a station or point)
refers to which way you need to go from the point you are at, at any
moment, to your destination point or any other point.
The relative bearing is what you just described.
Course is the line from your starting point to your destination point.
If you remain on this line, the course direction will coincide with
the bearing to your destination.