09 April 2004

A Navigation Problem Revisited

Dan Lasley

I have been nuts about airplanes since I was knee-high to an oleo strut. 1 Some years ago, after earning my private pilot's license and becoming a part owner of a Cessna 172, I developed an interest in various aspects of navigation.

During the time I was studying navigation, I ran across an interesting navigation problem: if a pilot flies from a beginning point, A, to a desti- nation, D, in the presence of a steady crosswind, what is the shape of his flight path if he continually adjusts his heading so as to point the aircraft to the destination?

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