Probably the most difficult navigation you can expect to see in FS is navigating across an ocean. No VOR's
or NDB's
in the middle of the Atlantic or Pacific. One common mistake that most FS users make when attempting their first ocean crossing is that the earth is not flat. We get used to looking at our maps and forget that as we fly a straight line or heading across the ocean, we're not really flying a straight line at all because of the curvature of the earth.
If we were flying from Boston Logan to London Heathrow, our course would take us northeast over Newfoundland. Our last Navaid in Newfoundland would be the Stephenville (YJT) VOR
. After passing this VOR
we would have about 1800 miles of open ocean to cross. The Stephenville VOR is at appx 48N. Our next waypoint across the Atlantic would be Shannon Ireland which is at appx 52N. Looking at a map you'll see we have to fly an east, northeast course to reach Shannon Ireland.
But here's where it gets tricky. Modern aircraft use global positioning systems. We don't have that in FS, well we sort of have it but not really. Your first instinct would tell you that if
you flew due east on a heading of 90 you would stay on the 48N latitude when in reality, you would end up flying far north of Ireland due to the curvature of the earth. If our flight plan called for a
heading of 88 degrees to reach Shannon, we can start out on this heading, but to make good on our given track, or straight line, it is necessary to change heading 2 degrees for every 3 degrees on longitude.
Flying east the 2 degrees is added and flying west the 2 degrees is subtracted. Using this calculation our heading would have to change appx 28. degrees across the Atlantic to successfully intercept Shannon
Ireland.
FS does give you the option to see your exact location by pressing CTRL-Z up to 4 times. By doing this You can at least see how you will drift far north of your target unless heading
adjustments are made.
