Track v.s. Heading

Bill Glaze billglaze at triad.rr.com
Mon Jun 6 17:21:48 AKDT 2005


Don:
Very lucid explanation.  Anything I can do to help try to correct it, 
I'll do.  Just let me know.  Bill Glaze

Don Ramsey wrote:

> OK, here's my thoughts on heading and track.  They are very different 
> terms.  Track is the path of the model over the ground.  Heading is 
> the direction the nose is pointed.  With no wind, heading and track 
> are the same.  The downgrades for some turnaround maneuvers are 
> absolutely incorrect when there is the statement, "Model heading does 
> not finish exactly opposite direction of entry." 
>  
> Let's take an example:
> Say the course parallel to the flight line is north-south (360 or 180 
> degrees).  Assume the 180 degree heading is from left to right.  With 
> no wind, if the model is flying parallel to the flight line the 
> heading and track will be 180 degrees from left to right. Now assume 
> an in blowing wind that requires a 15 degree correction to maintain a 
> path parallel to the flightline.  Remember the track of the model must 
> be wind corrected to track parallel to the judges.  The heading is now 
> 165 degrees but the track is 180 degrees.  The model is crabbed into 
> the wind 15 degrees with the wings level as required by our regs and 
> the nose is pointed away from the pilot.  Now assume you do a half 
> loop as a turnaround.  The opposite heading to 165 degrees is 345 
> degrees.  And that heading points the model into the flightline not 
> away as would be required for wind correction.  How many judges would 
> award a perfect score if the model was pointed into the flightline 
> when an opposite correction was required?  These mis-stated downgrades 
> in the regulations have been ignored for years (at least I hope they 
> have).  Substitute track for heading and the model is now required to 
> exit the half loop on an exact opposite track.  In other words, 
> parallel to the flightline entering the maneuver and parallel to the 
> flightline on exit.
>  
> Don
>  
> PS: On all modern jetliners the NAV display has pointers for both 
> heading and track and they are seldom the same in the air.
>  

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