gl wrote:
"Obviously, you must keep changing your course when following the GC. For the RL. the true course will stay constant but the magnetic course will be changing since you will be crossing areas with different variations so you can't
follow the RL with one set magnetic course at the beginning. if you try to use an average variation then the track will not follow the RL. "
Gary,
Your statement is correct but I think the challenge is to determine what course a magnetic auto pilot can be set to and arrive at the destination without changing course. The rhumb line won't be followed but the distance should be about the same since the first half of the trip is closer to the great circle track.
Greg Rudzinski
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