![]() The science of the methods and equipment for guiding aircraft (airplanes, helicopters, missiles, and so on) the aggregate of operations used by ground control or on-board facilities to determine navigational elements, and also their use to guide the aircraft. Guerny, Pilot's Handbook of Navigation (1977). 25 mi (.4 km) but available only in the United States and the Global Positioning System (GPS), a network of 24 satellites that is accurate to within a few yards and is making radio ranging obsolete. For long distances other electronic navigation systems have been developed: Omega, accurate to about two miles (3 km) Loran-C, accurate to within. The system of radio ranges around the United States is often called the VORTAC system. Using a special receiver, an air navigator can obtain an accurate bearing on the transmitter and, using distance-measuring equipment (DME), distance from it as well. The most common beacon is a very high frequency omnidirectional radio beacon, which emits a signal that varies according to the direction in which it is transmitted. Airways are defined on charts and are provided with radio ranges, devices that allow the pilot whose craft has a suitable receiver to determine the plane's bearing and distance from a fixed location. Airways and Radio Rangesīasic to air traffic control are special air routes called airways. Another device which is useful in this way is the automatic pilot, which interprets data on direction, speed, attitude, and altitude to maintain an aircraft in straight, level flight on a given course at a given speed. These automated and semiautomated procedures free the pilot from many of the activities previously necessary for navigation and thus allow the pilot to concentrate on actually flying the aircraft. Other similar systems use inertial devices such as free-swinging pendulums and gyroscopes as references in determining position. Other navigational aids include the radio altimeter, a radar device that indicates the distance of the plane from the ground the ground-speed indicator, which operates by measuring the Doppler shift in a radio wave reflected from the ground and, in commercial airliners, the flight management computer, which can display altitude, speed, course, wind conditions, and route information, as well as monitor the airplane's progress through the airway. airports beginning in 1988, is capable of landing the plane automatically, although the pilot always has the option of overriding manually. The Instrument Landing System enables an airplane to navigate through clouds or darkness to an airport's runway the Microwave Landing System, installed in U.S. Advanced aircraft also use electronic systems to give the pilot highly accurate positional information for use during landing. ![]() For supersonic and hypersonic aircraft the airspeed indicator is altered to show the airspeed as a Mach number, which is the ratio of the speed of an aircraft to the speed of sound. Light aircraft, flown by pilotage, typically have a simple set of navigational instruments, including an airspeed indicator (see pitot static system), an aneroid altimeter, and a magnetic compass. Air traffic controllers monitor the craft until it reaches its destination. The aircraft is then cleared for a given course and a given altitude. Also required under IFR is the filing of a flight plan with air traffic control authorities at the departure point. In these cases, or when weather conditions do not permit navigation by visual reference, planes must fly according to instrument flight regulations (IFR), which require that the aircraft be equipped with the necessary position-finding instruments and that the pilot be trained in operating those instruments. Pilotage is not satisfactory for long trips, especially over water or terrain lacking distinctive features. These establish the minimum weather conditions under which pilotage is permissible. ![]() Whether these landmarks are observed visually or on radar, this technique of air navigation is usually called flying under visual flight regulations (VFR). The simplest and least sophisticated way to keep track of position, course, and speed is to use pilotage, a method in which landmarks are noted and compared with an aeronautical chart. ![]() Air navigation, science and technology of determining the position of an aircraft with respect to the surface of the earth and accurately maintaining a desired course (see navigation).
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