Bit of Flying and the 1 in 60 Rule

Last week while we waited for the rain to clear Barrie did a briefing on the 1 in 60 Rule. This states that if a pilot has traveled sixty miles then an error in track of one mile is approximately a 1° error. These are calculations done on the ground based on a reference point or two chosen for the flight.

For example the reference point is 20 miles into a 50 mile flight. The first part of the calculation is the nautical miles gone and the second part is nautical miles to go, thus in my example:-

(1/20 * 60)  + (1/30 * 60)

60/20 + 60/30

3 + 2

5°

So we construct a table showing how far we need to correct given how far we are from course

• 1nm =  5°
• 2nm = 10°
• 3nm = 15°
• 4nm = 20°

Any further out would be poor flying! We subtract these numbers if we're on the right or add if we're on the left.

It was then on with a few circuits to keep my hand in. Since the change of hands the club now only keeps Alpha-November so that's now a given. Blustery conditions made for some interesting circuits with lots of active use of the controls. The circuits were cut short after four touch and goes by a wall of rain and low cloud moving in.