In navigation, the course of a watercraft or aircraft is the

cardinal direction The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...

in which the craft is to be steered. The course is to be distinguished from the ''

heading Heading can refer to: * Heading (metalworking), a process which incorporates the extruding and upsetting processes * Headline, text at the top of a newspaper article * Heading (navigation), the direction a person or vehicle is facing, usually si ...

'', which is the direction where the watercraft's bow or the aircraft's nose is pointed.

Course, track, route and heading

The path that a vessel follows over the ground is called a '' ground track'', ''course made good'' or ''course over the ground''. For an aircraft it is simply its ''track''. The intended track is a ''route''. For ships and aircraft, routes are typically

straight-line In geometry, a line is an infinitely long object with no width, depth, or curvature. Thus, lines are one-dimensional objects, though they may exist in two, three, or higher dimension spaces. The word ''line'' may also refer to a line segment ...

segments between waypoints. A navigator determines the ''bearing'' (the compass direction from the craft's current position) of the next waypoint. Because water currents or wind can cause a craft to drift off course, a navigator sets a ''course to steer'' that compensates for drift. The helmsman or pilot points the craft on a ''heading'' that corresponds to the course to steer. If the predicted drift is correct, then the craft's track will correspond to the planned course to the next waypoint. Course directions are specified in degrees from north, either true or magnetic. In aviation, north is usually expressed as 360°. Navigators used ordinal directions, instead of compass degrees, e.g. "northeast" instead of 45° until the mid-20th century when the use of degrees became prevalent.

Notes

References

Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledgeglossary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Course (Navigation) Aircraft instruments Navigation Tracking Air navigation

Course, track, route and heading

See also

Notes

References