Pilotage and Dead Reckoning
This page covers Task A. Pilotage and Dead Reckoning from the FAA-S-ACS-6C Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards.
Pilotage
- Navigation by reference to landmarks or checkpoints
- For example, following a highway
- Becomes difficult in low visibility or in areas that lack prominent features
- Use prominent checkpoints that can be seen
- Consider checkpoints as boundaries
Dead reckoning
- Navigation solely by means of computations based on time, airspeed, distance, and direction.
- For example, calculating wind correction and speed, and figuring out what approximately southerly heading would be required to fly from
KHEFtoKRIC.
Using Pilotage and Dead Reckoning
- Pilotage and dead reckoning are distinct skills but are applied together to successfully navigate
- Upon reaching a particular point along the route, dead reckoning is used to set the initial heading
- Pilotage is used to adjust the heading as needed to arrive at the next desired waypoint
- For example,
KEDUtoKCIC(buttes and grain elevator)
- For example,