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Great-circle navigation or orthodromic navigation (related to orthodromic course; from Ancient Greek ορθός (orthós) 'right angle' and δρόμος (drómos) 'path') is the practice of navigating a vessel (a ship or aircraft) along a great circle.
The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path between the two points on the surface of the sphere. (By comparison, the shortest path passing through the sphere's interior is the chord between ...
The southernmost flight route with plausible airports would be between Buenos Aires and Perth. [40] With a 175° (S) heading, the route's great circle exceeds 85° S and would be within 500 kilometres (310 mi) of the South Pole. Currently, no commercial airline operates this 12,600-kilometre (7,800 mi; 6,800 nmi) route.
The length of a flight can be defined in different ways. [4] The most common standard flight length measurement is by great-circle distance, a formula that calculates the shortest distance across the curvature of the earth for two airports' ARPs. [5]
Few flight planning systems calculate the actual takeoff weight; instead, the fuel used for taking off is counted as part of the fuel used for climbing up to the normal cruise height. Landing weight is the weight of an aircraft as it lands at the destination. This is the brake release weight minus the trip fuel burned.
The haversine formula determines the great-circle distance between two points on a sphere given their longitudes and latitudes.Important in navigation, it is a special case of a more general formula in spherical trigonometry, the law of haversines, that relates the sides and angles of spherical triangles.
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Instruments used to plot a course on a nautical chart. In navigation, the course of a watercraft or aircraft is the cardinal direction in which the craft is to be steered.The course is to be distinguished from the heading, which is the direction where the watercraft's bow or the aircraft's nose is pointed.