Total track
– nm
Navigation Drill
1 in 60 Rule Trainer
You're abeam the lake and off track. Work out the heading correction back onto a direct track to your destination.
Correct
0/0
Schematic — off-track distance exaggerated, not to scale
Flown (home → lake)
– nm
Off track
– nm
Your answer — working is optional, the heading correction is graded
°
°
Heading correction — magnitude and direction
°
The 1 in 60 rule — quick reference
If you've flown 60 nm and you're 1 nm off track, your track error is 1°. Scale it for any distance:
Track error = (off track × 60) ÷ miles flown
Correction angle = (off track × 60) ÷ miles to go
The track error turns you parallel to your planned track; the correction angle closes the gap so you arrive on track. Add them for the total heading correction. If you're off track to the left, you correct to the right, and vice versa.
Why it works — the geometry
Every angle, spread out along an arc, covers a set slice of distance. Fly a distance equal to your radius and you've swept exactly one radian — about 57°. Pilots round that up to a friendlier 60, which divides cleanly and keeps the sums in your head. That rounding is the whole trick: at 60 nm from a point, 1 nm to the side is roughly 1° of angle.
Your flight makes a long, thin right-angled triangle. The ground you've flown is the base, your distance off track is the short upright side, and the angle back at the start is your track error. For a sliver of a triangle like this, that angle in degrees is just the short side times 60, over the base:
Track error° = (off track × 60) ÷ miles flown
The correction angle is the very same shape, measured over the ground you have left instead of the ground you've covered. One triangle tells you how far your heading has drifted; the other tells you how sharply to cut back. Add them, turn once, and you track straight to the field. (The angle is drawn large here so it's easy to see — in the air it's only a degree or two.)