Building the Latitude Equation of the Mid-longitude

Abstract

We were amused by the Cross Track Distance at Mid-Longitude problem posed by Paul Hickley in The Journal of Navigation 57, 320. Two professors, John Ponsonby and Peter Hoare, replied to the invitations immediately. Both their solutions to the original article give superb accuracy. The two solutions are certainly ingenious and creative and encouraged us to develop new formula for building the Mid-Longitude Equation on great circle. Regrettably, the original author doesn’t think that the two were the solution that ATPL examiners were looking for. I also think that the two solutions would be beyond the capacity of the average undergraduate. Our method gives a good understanding logically and easily to be mnemonic, and the derivation process is found without any need to appeal to any formula of spherical trigonometry.

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