SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/pilot-pilotage

What is navigation by reference to landmarks or checkpoints called?

Pilotage.

  1. Dead reckoning
  2. Radio navigation
  3. Pilotage ✔

Why: Pilotage means flying from landmark to landmark, like roads, rivers, and lakes. Dead reckoning instead uses time, airspeed, distance, and direction. Most VFR cross-countries combine the two.

Huh, didn't know that: Good checkpoints are prominent features, such as railroads, highways, power lines, and lakes.

The dad joke
Why do birds fly south for the winter? It's too far to walk.
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Sources

  1. Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Chapter 16 Navigation (FAA-H-8083-25C) https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf
  2. Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Chapter 16 Navigation (FAA-H-8083-25C) https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf

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