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#21
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The rhumbline is a straight line drawn on a chart (or at least that's my
intuitive definition; I'm not sure what the formal definition is). If I'm not mistaken, a rhumb line is a line that crosses all meridians at the same angle. So a rhumb line is not a straight line on a sectional chart, except in a few special cases (e.g., the equator). Notice that on the chart Kyler posted, the meridians are closer together at the top of the chart than at the bottom, so that straight line crosses each meridian ast a slightly different angle. Of course, once you get into the whole concept of representing the surface of a sphere(oid) on a flat piece of paper, and the different chart projections used to do it, the definition of "a straight line" becomes a little hard to pin down. I don't see why. A straight line is one that can be drawn using a straightedge. As Euclid would say, it's the shortest distance between to points on the chart. I believe one reason the Lambert chart was invented was to make it possible to use a straightedge to draw a great circle route. vince norris |
#22
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"Peter Duniho" writes:
There is absolutely no basis for Center ever asking you to justify your choice in flight planning. My use of "explain" was apparently ambiguous. I've not been asked to justify my route (that I recall), but I have been asked to elaborate on how I'm going to deal with airspace barriers. I got the feeling that they wanted more than "I'm going to avoid them." But frankly, that's just a red herring anyway. There's no way in hell that any controller would want to know why you flew a sectional straight line instead of a great-circle route or vice a versa. The difference is just noise to them. Again, that's off the subject. I don't know that I'm capable of providing further clarification on my preference to have all of my maps (and paths) be aligned. That's my own laziness though. I'm perfectly happy justifying the use of Great Circle paths for the tools I build solely because it's The Right Thing to do. --kyler |
#23
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vincent p. norris wrote:
If I'm not mistaken, a rhumb line is a line that crosses all meridians at the same angle. OK, now you gone and done it. You made me go look it up. Bowditch says: RHUMB LINE. A line on the surface of the earth making the same oblique angle with all meridians; a loxodrome or loxodromic curve spirals toward the poles in a constant true direction. Parallels and meridians, which also maintain constant true directions, may be considered special cases of the rhumb line. A rhumb line is a straight line on a Mercator projection. Sometimes shortened to RHUMB. See also FICTITIOUS RHUMB LINE. So, yup, you're right. The last time I remember flying a loxodromic spiral, I was practicing NDB approaches for my CFI-I ride :-) |
#24
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RHUMB LINE. A line on the surface of the earth making the same oblique
angle with all meridians; a loxodrome or loxodromic curve spirals toward the poles in a constant true direction. Parallels and meridians, which also maintain constant true directions, may be considered special cases of the rhumb line. A rhumb line is a straight line on a Mercator projection. Sometimes shortened to RHUMB. See also FICTITIOUS RHUMB LINE. So, yup, you're right. Thanks--and thanks for introducing me to the word "loxodromic," which I had never heard. And BTW, I do know how to spell "two." The last time I remember flying a loxodromic spiral, I was practicing NDB approaches for my CFI-I ride :-) LOL! I know exactly what you mean! vince norris |
#25
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Kyler Laird wrote in message ...
Awhile ago I pointed out in rec.aviation.piloting that one of my tools will generate a map using stitched sectionals for a given route. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e....edu.au#link10 Ben Jackson mentioned that it didn't look correct to just draw a straight line between two points so far away (across multiple sectionals). I have looked into it a few times but I haven't come up with a definitive answer. So...anyone know the answer? Pilots are certainly accustomed to drawing straight lines on a sectional to find the shortest path between two points, and I've never been taught to do anything other than align sectionals by sight to plan multi-sectional flights. Does this not work over long distances? One path I know fairly well is LAF-MER. The Great Circle path happens to go right near Denver (where I usually stop). If that path is plotted as a straight line on the sectionals https://aviationtoolbox.org/Members/...selected.x=411 it appears to follow the path I'd expect. https://aviationtoolbox.org/Members/...selected.x=427 Also, there's an easily-identified area on that path where Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri meet. Take a look at the Great Circle route. http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gcmap?PAT....380N+120.568W Again, this seems to match the area on the straight-line path drawn on the sectional. https://aviationtoolbox.org/members/...selected.y=324 Anyone know for sure whether or not this is an accurate way of depicting Great Circle paths in the conUS? Thank you. --kyler As a rule of thumb: Use this equation to draw the bow. It gives the distance offset from a straight line for the circle route. A: Lat A: Longitude B: Lat B: Longitude A and B are the two locations. C: km of rhumb line. Nathanial Bowdich has an equation there for this method and is forgotten, but available from his Navigation Book. Except his method is to find the equation that fits the geometer's rhumb line, meaning Bowdich only has a method of navigation and not the true rhumbline solution. Making my equation a constant for the earth sphere type, where only the geometry of all spheres allows the applied line!! That is geometer talk btw. C*1.3 seconds= Alat C*1.3 seconds= Blat Two simulatanous equations to solve for C, the rhumbline. Longitude is the reason for the 1.3 seconds of time arc, as a constant. Meaning just take the time of the trip and lengthen until the A and the B are equal latitudes! That is it. Douglas Eagleson Gaithersburg, MD USA |
#26
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Roy Smith writes:
The GC route is indeed the shortest distance between two points. Try plugging 38N/77W to 38N/122W into http://www.aeroplanner.com/calculators/avcalcrhumb.cfm to get the rhumbline of 2128 nm, and into http://www.csgnetwork.com/marinegrcircalc.html to get the GC of 2099 nm. And http://gc.kls2.com/ as it makes nice visuals. -- A host is a host from coast to & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433 |
#28
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"Kyler Laird" wrote in message ... "Peter Duniho" writes: There is absolutely no basis for Center ever asking you to justify your choice in flight planning. My use of "explain" was apparently ambiguous. I've not been asked to justify my route (that I recall), but I have been asked to elaborate on how I'm going to deal with airspace barriers. I got the feeling that they wanted more than "I'm going to avoid them." But frankly, that's just a red herring anyway. There's no way in hell that any controller would want to know why you flew a sectional straight line instead of a great-circle route or vice a versa. The difference is just noise to them. Again, that's off the subject. I don't know that I'm capable of providing further clarification on my preference to have all of my maps (and paths) be aligned. That's my own laziness though. I'm perfectly happy justifying the use of Great Circle paths for the tools I build solely because it's The Right Thing to do. --kyler When flying VFR, I've been asking about my planned route of flight before. The controller is just doing his/her job and wants to get the heads up. |
#29
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"Roy Smith" wrote in message ... In article , (Paul Tomblin) wrote: snip You've got to go pretty big distances before GC errors start to become significant. For example, to go from 38N/77W to 38N/122W (roughly Washington, DC to San Francisco, CA), the rhumbline is 270 and the GC is 284. 14 degrees on a coast to coast trip. If you're flying it nonstop in a jet, it makes sense to take that into account. For most of us flying spam cans, we just can't fly long enough legs for it to become significant. And it is all moot anyhow, since you'd be IFR and not using VFR charts... |
#30
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"F1" wrote in message
... When flying VFR, I've been asking about my planned route of flight before. The controller is just doing his/her job and wants to get the heads up. Did the controller ask you to explain why you chose one route versus another? I doubt they did. That is the issue here, not a controller's general interest in which way you're going. |
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