Bearing and Course, differences?

If I took a magnetic bearing to a lighthouse, buoy, or daymark and followed
that bearing, I would either hit the buoy or run aground. This reminds me of
the old joke "Captain: "What's your course, helmsman?" Helmsman: "Dead
ahead, sir!"

Bob

"Guillermo" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Aug 31, 2:11 am, Dallas wrote:
On 30 Aug 2007 05:00:02 GMT, Allen Smith wrote:

Can somebody give me easy examples to understand? My next flight
lesson is scheduled for next week...

First, Bob Gardner's post is very clear and correct.


So you are saying that there is not such thing as a magnetic bearing
to a station, which is the direction of travel needed to go directly
to a station (referenced to the magnetic north)?

"Bob Gardner" wrote:
If I took a magnetic bearing to a lighthouse, buoy, or daymark and followed
that bearing, I would either hit the buoy or run aground.

Only on a flat Earth :-)

This reminds me of
the old joke "Captain: "What's your course, helmsman?" Helmsman: "Dead
ahead, sir!"

Another old joke:

It's a dark night and the lookout on a ship sees a light ahead. The
captain gets on the radio and calls, "Vessel located at XXX, alter your
course to starboard!".

The call comes back, "I'm sorry sir, you please alter your course".

This angers the captain, who yells into the radio, "Look here, I'm a
captain in the U. S. Navy and I order you to change your course to avoid
us!"

The response is, "Understood, sir. I'm a seaman third class, and suggest
you change your course".

The captain thunders, "I'm in command of a Battleship! Now alter your
course!!!"

The seaman third class responds, "Yes sir, I'm in command of a lighthouse".

Dudley Henriques wrote:

Many new student pilots are confused by the many different terms used in
the basic navigation glossary. Although mentioned and demonstrated
every time instructors are dealing with this issue, many instructors
fail to emphasize the single most important point for the student to
understand.
If this single point is EMPHASIZED early on in the learning curve, it
can save a ton of confusion down the line as the student ponders basic
navigation problems.
That single fact that should be emphasized early on is that a heading is
always corrected for wind! You can deal with the courses straight
through the chain without a wind correction which can be very confusing
to a new student.
TC -+ Var= MC -+ Dev= CC Notice no wind correction there, but the
student has to deal with wind.
You insert a correction for wind anywhere in this chain and you change
from dealing with courses to dealing with headings.
TC-+ (WCA)= TH-+ Var= MH-+ Dev=CH
It's the misuse of the term heading when dealing with charts where the
term course is indicated that confuses many students. They fly a heading
to make good a course so the whole problem is one of correcting a course
on a chart through variation and deviation AND a wind correction to
achieve a final compass HEADING.
I don't know how many times I've seen something in print that reads like,
"What is the heading of that runway?" or "what is the heading of that
VOR radial?"
It's VERY confusing for new students!!

And not always that clear even to old students. :-)

Matt

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:29:06 -0700, Guillermo wrote:

So you are saying that there is not such thing as a magnetic bearing
to a station,

Actually, I'm guilty of trying to get into Allen Smith's head and sort
things out in a more logical manner for him.

He's lumped the terms "course" and "bearing" into the same basket and he's
trying to somehow link their definitions.

I was trying to draw the distinction for him that the term "course" is most
commonly found under the subject heading of dead reckoning and "bearing" is
found under the subject heading of instrument navigation. If he could
break them apart they would be easier to understand.


--
Dallas

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:40:25 -0400, Dudley Henriques wrote:

You insert a correction for wind anywhere in this chain and you change
from dealing with courses to dealing with headings.
TC-+ (WCA)= TH-+ Var= MH-+ Dev=CH

Ah... very nice. That subtlety did pass by me.

I did however notice that if the term contains "Magnetic" (MH & MC) the
correction for Magnetic Variation has been factored in.

--
Dallas

Dallas wrote:
On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:40:25 -0400, Dudley Henriques wrote:

You insert a correction for wind anywhere in this chain and you change
from dealing with courses to dealing with headings.
TC-+ (WCA)= TH-+ Var= MH-+ Dev=CH

Ah... very nice. That subtlety did pass by me.

I did however notice that if the term contains "Magnetic" (MH & MC) the
correction for Magnetic Variation has been factored in.

Sometimes pilots flying simple VFR will simply draw a line from A to B
paralleling a VOR radial on the chart as a shortcut. This starts you out
with a MC line instead of a TC line since the VOR is a MC already
corrected for Var. Then if you factor in the wind correction at that
point you get a MH...then the Deviation for a final CH for that leg.
After take off, you adjust the CH on observed winds aloft to maintain track.
This is called the " Good God Almighty, why the hell did they make me do
all those damn wind triangles anyway" method used by many newly
certificated commercial pilots......many on the way home from taking the
flight test :-)))

--
Dudley Henriques

Allen Smith wrote:
Hey guys,
I am a presolo guy, about 11 hours now and getting close to solo.
While studying tonight I couldn\'t really figure out the difference
between magnetic/true course and magnetic/true bearing.

So as far as I understand it, bearing is a referenced heading to
somewhere you want to go, for example: I am flying on heading of 060
heading and to and the VOR is on a 090 bearing (Heading of 090
required to fly direct)

Course is an intended flight line, so if I plan to fly from a to b
(with a heading of 090 to b) My course throughout the flight would
be 090, even if I am 30 miles off course, the course would be 090
while the bearing would change, correct?

Can somebody give me easy examples to understand? My next flight
lesson is scheduled for next week...

You seem to be making it more complicated than it is.

"Course" (true or magnetic)is the direction you want to go, to get to
your destination.

"Track" is the direction you actually go. Because of winds or
inattention to the compass, it not be the same as your intended course.

"Bearing" is simply the direction from one point to another. It can be
expressed as magnetic, or true, or relative. You do NOT necessarily
want to go there.

For example, you may plan to fly a magnetic COURSE of 060 until Mount
Granite is exactly off your right wing --a relative bearing of 090-- at
a planned distance of ten miles; at that point you change your course to
080 magnetic, to fly directly to your destination.

vince norris

Allen Smith wrote in
:

Hey guys,
I am a presolo guy, about 11 hours now and getting close to solo.
While studying tonight I couldn\'t really figure out the difference
between magnetic/true course and magnetic/true bearing.


Great news!

As you can see by the millions of diverse responses to this thread, nobody
really knows what the difference is, so don't sweat it!

Go solo!