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At 03:53 PM 12/6/02, George Huxtable, you wrote:
>...a solution to the shortest-path
>problem. It can never involve a sudden turn through an angle on to a new
>course, because if one's path involves such a change of course, one can
>always shorten it a bit further by cutting across, or smoothly rounding,
>the angle. So it's intuitively obvious that the shortest ship's-path must
>be a smooth curve with no corners, a condition that's met by choosing an
>initial great circle (and a final one) that merges smoothly at a tangent
>into the constant-latitude leg of the course. Just as Walter (and Bill
>Noyce too) have suggested.
...
>George Huxtable.


Divagating briefly, I note that a flight management system fitted to
some aircraft (Rockwell-Collins FMS800)  allows one to select
a prospective change of heading in a smooth turn onto a new
course when approaching a waypoint,
or a change only at the waypoint (or no change at all....)



Brian Whatcott
   Altus OK                      Eureka!

   

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