"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...

This is something I've never understood. Before I was a pilot, I was an
orienteer (a pretty good one, too - 7th in the North American
Championships one year). And in the sport of orienteering, it's quite
common to take an approximate bearing to one linear feature, aimed off a
bit so you know which way to turn, and then follow the linear feature to
the point feature that you're looking for. And yet if you suggest to
another pilot that you could get to "so-and-so" intersection (which is the
intersection of two airways that you're not currently on) from here by
taking a 200 heading until you hit the airway, then turning down along the
airway until you hit the intersection, and they look at you like you've
grown an extra horn on your head.


Well, "direct" is defined as straight line flight between two fixes. But
then a VOR receiver can be off by six degrees and still be used for IFR
operations. Go figure.