Avielevate / DGCA CPL papers / Air Navigation / Dead Reckoning Navigation
Dead Reckoning Navigation — DGCA CPL Air Navigation
Chapter GN09 of the Air Navigation paper. 58 practice questions in the Avielevate bank, every one with its answer key, filterable into a timed set on this chapter alone.
What this chapter covers
The learning objectives we file Dead Reckoning Navigation questions under, and how many sit behind each. These come straight out of the bank and are regenerated whenever it changes — they are what is there today, not a claim.
| Learning objective | In the bank |
|---|
| __GEN__ General | 58 questions |
Sample Dead Reckoning Navigation questions, answered and explained
Real questions from this chapter, with the answer marked and the reasoning written out — the same explanations you get inside the app.
0217059 · Dead Reckoning Navigation
Given Hdg (Heading) = 270°, TMG (Track Made Good) = 269°, Trk (Track) = 265°, find Drift and TE (Track Error).
- ADrift: 1°P, TE: 4°S
- BDrift: 1°S, TE: 4°P
- CDrift: 2°P, TE: 3°S
- DDrift: 1°P, TE: 5°S
Why that is the answer
**Heading** is the direction the nose points. The wind pushes the aircraft sideways, so its real path over the ground, the **Track Made Good (TMG)**, is a little different from the heading. The angle from the heading to the TMG is the **drift**.
The **required track** is the line you planned to fly. The angle from the required track to the TMG is the **track error (TE)**. Both angles are named by the side the TMG lies on: **Starboard (S)** means to the right, **Port (P)** means to the left.
Look at the diagram: the TMG is the common line. So TMG = heading + starboard drift (or − port drift), and TMG = required track + starboard TE (or − port TE).
**Drift:** heading 270°, TMG 269°. The TMG is 1° to the left of the heading, so the drift is 1° Port.
**Track error:** required track 265°, TMG 269°. The TMG is 4° to the right of the required track, so the TE is 4° Starboard.
So the answer is **Drift 1°P, TE 4°S**.
**Tip:** going from heading or required track to the TMG, add S and subtract P. Going back from the TMG, do the opposite.
0217085 · Dead Reckoning Navigation
Given Course = 290°, TAS (True Airspeed) = 510 kt, W/V (Wind Velocity) = 260°/90 kt, find Drift, Heading, and G/S (Groundspeed).
- ADrift: 5°P, Heading: 295°, G/S: 429 kt
- BDrift: 5°S, Heading: 285°, G/S: 429 kt
- CDrift: 5°S, Heading: 295°, G/S: 580 kt
- DDrift: 5°P, Heading: 285°, G/S: 580 kt
Why that is the answer
To fly along a chosen **course (track)** when there is a wind, the pilot points the nose a little **into the wind**, so the sideways push is cancelled. The angle between heading and track is the **drift** (also called the wind correction angle). Look at the diagram of the wind triangle.
The method:
- Find the angle θ between the wind direction and the track, and which side the wind comes from.
- Split the wind: **crosswind** = W × sin θ (across the track) and **headwind/tailwind** = W × cos θ (along the track). If the wind is within 90° of the nose it is a headwind; if it is more than 90° away it is a tailwind.
- **Drift** = sin⁻¹(crosswind ÷ TAS). Part of the TAS has to be 'spent' cancelling the crosswind, and this angle is just enough.
- **Heading** = track turned into the wind by the drift. Wind from the left pushes you right (starboard drift), so heading = track − drift. Wind from the right gives port drift, so heading = track + drift.
- **GS** = TAS × cos drift, minus the headwind or plus the tailwind. Pointing a little off the track always costs a little speed along it.
**Wind angle:** wind from 260°, track 290°. They are 30° apart, with the wind on the left and mostly ahead.
**Crosswind:** 90 × sin 30° = 90 × 0.5 = 45.0 kt from the left.
**Headwind:** 90 × cos 30° = 90 × 0.866 = 77.9 kt.
**Drift:** sin⁻¹(45.0 ÷ 510) = sin⁻¹(0.088) ≈ 5°. Wind from the left gives starboard drift: 5°S.
**Heading:** turn left into the wind: 290° − 5° = 285°.
**GS:** 510 × cos 5° − 77.9 = 508.1 − 77.9 ≈ 430 kt, which is the 429 kt answer within rounding.
So the answer is **Drift 5°S, Heading 285°, G/S 429 kt**.
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Frequently asked
How many Dead Reckoning Navigation questions are there for the DGCA CPL Air Navigation paper?
Avielevate's bank carries 58 published Dead Reckoning Navigation questions for Air Navigation, mapped across 1 learning objective. Every one has its answer key, and explanations are being written across the whole bank.
How much of the Air Navigation paper is Dead Reckoning Navigation?
The DGCA does not publish a per-chapter breakdown of its papers, so nobody can honestly tell you — and we will not guess. What we can tell you is what students who have just sat a paper reported meeting, which is measured rather than rumoured: that is the exam recall report inside the app.
What is the best way to revise Dead Reckoning Navigation?
Sit a short timed set on this chapter alone, tag how sure you were of each answer, then drill the two that actually leak marks: the ones you got right while guessing, and the ones you got wrong while confident. Avielevate does that tagging for you and puts anything you got wrong back in front of you on a spaced schedule.
The rest of the Air Navigation paper
One account covers every chapter of every paper.
← All Air Navigation chapters · All six DGCA CPL papers