Bearings and Headings
As an air traffic controller, you need to understand the terms heading and bearing. It is
important that you understand the difference between the two and how they are used to
determine LOPs, positions, and fixes.
Headings
Earlier in this chapter we talked about headings. For the purpose of this discussion we
will talk about TH only. TH is the angle measured from true north clockwise to the
longitudinal (fore and aft) axis of the aircraft, and it is measured in degrees from 0 to
360. Figure 2-3 shows the aircraft to be on a true heading of 210.
Figure 2-3 -- True headings.
There are two forms of bearing: true bearing (TB) and relative bearing (RB). For this
discussion, we will talk about the aircraft's bearing relationship to the mountain peak
depicted in the figures.
Relative Bearing
RB is the angle measured from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft clockwise to a line
passing through an object. Simply put, RB is the position of an object relative to the
2-11