How do aeroplanes navigate in air ?

  

 

Finding the way from one place to another is called NAVIGATION. Moving of an  aircraft from one point to another is the most important part for any kind of mission. 

Plotting on the paper or on the map a course towards a specific area of the earth.

 *NAVIGATION METHODS* 

There are three main methods of air navigation. 

There are:

 (a) Pilotage

 (b) Dead Reckoning

 (c) Radio.

(a). *Pilotage or Piloting* is the most common method of air navigation. In this method, 

the pilot keeps on course by following a series of landmarks on the ground. Usually 

before take-off, the pilot draws a line on the aeronautical map to indicate the desired 

course. He/ She notes down various landmarks on track, such as highways , railroad 

tracks, rivers , bridges etc . As the pilot flies over/ near each landmark, he checks the 

deviation from the planned track and corrects his course.

(b). *Dead Reckoning* is the primary navigation method used in the early days of flying.

It demands more skill and experience than pilotage does. It is based on time, distance, 

speed of the aircraft and direction. The pilot must know the distance from one point to 

the next and the magnetic heading to be flown. He decides a speed to be maintained 

keeping in mind the safety and efficiency of the aircraft, thereafter calculates the time 

to know exactly to reach the distination. In the air, he uses compass to keep the plane 

heading in the right direction. Dead reckoning is not always a successful method of 

navigation because of changing wind direction.

(c). *Radio Navigation* is used by almost all pilots. Pilots can find out from an  aeronautical chart what radio station they should tune to in a particular area. They can then tune their radio navigation equipment to a signal from this station. A needle on 

the navigation equipment.

 *An autopilot* is a flight control system that allows a pilot to fly an airplane without continuous hands-on control of the airplane. It allows the pilot to focus on higher-order tasks such as navigating, communicating with air traffic control, planning for weather contingencies and rerouting associated with any kind of emergency circumstance.

An autoflight system works by sending signals to the flight control system. The pilot inputs what type of mode they want, like a heading hold mode or an altitude hold mode

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