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--- Lu Abel  wrote:

> I suspect it's tradition more than anything else -- "course" is the
> maritime term just as "heading" is the aircraft term.

I think you're right on that... seems like I remember from Navy days
overhearing the conning officer on the bridge telling the helmsman (and
they were all male in those days) to "Make your course xxx".

And since most of the crew standing a helm watch weren't even rated yet
(Seaman Apprentice or Seaman in the U.S. vernacular), I seriously doubt
if they were able to do the mental vector math required to translate
"course" into "ship's heading".

--
GregR



> Greg R. wrote:
> > Which reminded me of something that I've been meaning to ask - I've
> > noticed that in marine navigation textbooks DR lines are usually
> > labeled as being a "course" (i.e. TC 210, MC 150) - either true or
> > magnetic,  depending on personal preference.
> >
> > But isn't what we're really plotting a heading? I think of a
> "course"
> > as being the path that a vessel tracks over the ground (or over the
> > bottom), and heading as the direction a vessel is pointed or
> steered in
> > order to produce that course.
> >
> I suspect it's tradition more than anything else -- "course" is the
> maritime term just as "heading" is the aircraft term.   Maybe the
> latter
> is better - it certainly gives the impression "this is the way the
> airplane is pointing" (eg, on crosswind landings).  COG (course over
> ground) is again the maritime term for what an aircraft pilot would
> call
> "course"
>
> But then we could also ask why the person who drives an aircraft is
> the
> "pilot" which is the term for someone who navigates a ship in coastal
> waters ;-)
>
> Speaking of which, I learned just this weekend why the pilot in a
> helicopter sits in the right-hand seat, even though the pilot's seat
> for
> a conventional aircraft had been on the left for over three decades
> before the development of the helicopter.   It's because Igor
> Sikorsky
> figured that the helicopter pilot would want the stick in his right
> hand
> (as in an aircraft) but he also needed to manipulate the collective
> (the
> control that regulates the main rotor and therefore lift and thrust)
> which is typically located on the centerline of the aircraft.  So
> rather
> than make pilots learn how to fly "left-handed," he moved them to the
> right seat.
>
> Lu Abel
>
>
> >
>


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