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The evidence indicates that in preparing a flight plan the practice is to divide the flight into several portions, each of which may include a number of sectors or legs having separate courses, and to enter on the flight plan for each portion a course which represents the average of the courses of the individual sectors. The result is that a course designated on the flight plan is approximately equivalent to a straight line between the extremities of the portion of the flight for which it is entered.[1]
The average magnetic course between Las Vegas and Daggett is about 210 degrees, rather than 218 degrees which was the course designated on the flight plan. The average magnetic course between Boulder City and Daggett, on the other hand, is 218 degrees. In view of the
- ↑ It was explained that the original function of the courses so entered on the flight plan is to serve as base lines from which the anticipated effect of the reported winds upon the flight may be calculated. The testimony indicates that it is not the practice to refer to the flight plan, while in flight, for the purpose of ascertaining the course to be flown over any given portion of the route. According to the evidence, the courses indicated on the flight log sheet are referred to for that purpose, and the flight plan is referred to principally to ascertain the previously calculated drift corrections in order to apply them to the course shown on the flight log sheet. However, it also appears that in some cases the course indicated on the flight plan for a given portion of the flight is the course which the pilot expects to fly after reaching cruising altitude.
