Universitatea Maritima din Constanta Terrestrial Navigation

Assist.Prof. Costel STANCA

Fixing the ship
by two cross bearings
Universitatea Maritima din Constanta Terrestrial Navigation
2
Preparing observations
Identify on chart two Aids to Navigation (AtoN) wich will be visible in the
same time and which will offer a proper angle of crossing bearing lines.
Best angle is 90
0
.
Accepted angle between 30
0
-150
0
Yes
No
Universitatea Maritima din Constanta Terrestrial Navigation
3
Measuring bearings
Identify correctly the two AtoN
selected from the chart.
Measure very quick one after the
other the bearings to the selected
objects.
Order for bearing measurement:
FIRST object -the one closer to the
fore and aft line (A)
SECOND object - the one closer to
the beam (B).
During the night time the first object
the one with shortest luminous
characteristic
Note the time for observation.
Fore and aft line
Beam
A
B
Universitatea Maritima din Constanta Terrestrial Navigation
4
Correct bearings and draw
TRUE BEARI NGS on chart
Correct the value of bearings using the appropriate error:
TB = CB+CE or TB = GyB+ GyE
Draw the TRUE BEARING lines on chart
FIX is given by intersection of the two LOPs.
Read the latitude and longitude of the FIX.
Measure the fixing error
(defined as bearing and distance from DR to FIX).
Draw the course line from the FIX.
Universitatea Maritima din Constanta Terrestrial Navigation
5
Potential errors
Too long a delay between taking bearings
Wrong identification of an object
Error in plotting
Compass error wrongly applied
Unknown compass error
Poor survey of the area