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ADF navigation question

Asked by: 861 views , , ,
General Aviation, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

An aircraft is flying to an ADF. The true heading to the ADF is 90°. The magnetic heading is 088° (2°E variation). After a few minutes, the pilot discovers that he has drifted 10° to the left, and the ADF needle indicates 020° relative bearing.  What is the magnetic heading the aircraft should fly to in order to reach the ADF? The answer is 118 degrees, but I don't understand why. 

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3 Answers



  1. Mark Kolber on Feb 16, 2024

    Do you have a url for the whole question? True vs magnetic doesn’t click with me in this context.

    Having drifted left (north) of course, you need to turn right past 090 bearing 30° is generally a good basic intercept. But I have no idea if that’s what the question is getting at.

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  2. Oren on Feb 16, 2024

    There’s no URL… I think what is meant by the question is that the plane is flying MH of 88. To correct for wind, the pilot ads 10 degrees to the right, so it must fly a MH of 98. Now MH+RB = Magnetic Bearing To the Station. So, it’s 98+20=118. The true heading is given to confuse us… But I am not sure it’s the correct explanation.

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  3. Russ Roslewski on Feb 16, 2024

    I think I see what they’re getting at.

    In a no-wind scenario, if the ADF needle pointed 20 degrees to the right, you would turn 20 degrees to the right to fly to it.

    However, in this scenario, you already know (somehow) that you’ve drifted 10 degrees to the left, presumably due to wind. So you need 10 degrees right to correct for wind, and 20 degrees right to correct back to the course. 088 + 10 + 20 = 118.

    That’s the only explanation I can find that fits the answer, but it doesn’t make much sense, mostly the part about “knowing” you drifted 10 degrees off. How do you know this? If the ADF is showing a RB of 20 degrees, then I’d say you’ve drifted 20 deg off course. Now, to correct, if you only turn 20 degrees to fly heading 108, the ADF needle will be on the nose but you will be simply homing on the ADF, flying a curved route to get there as the wind keep pushing you off course and you keep correcting to the right. So you need to correct more than 20 deg, yes. How much more? No idea, that’s part of the fun of ADF navigation. Sure, 10 deg more seems like a nice round number, but that’s only because somehow you magically determined you’re 10 deg off course. Could be 15 deg, 8 deg, no way to tell until you’re back on course. At least as far as I remember, it’s been a while.

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