The History of Pressure Pattern Navigation

John Bellamy

Abstract:	Inflight pressure pattern navigation was initiated in 1943 when readings of an aircratYs pressure and radar altimeters were first utilized to determine the socalled “Bellamy Drift” and/or Pressure Lines of Position. This led to preflight planning of Single Heading Flights and Optimum Flight Planning based on the patterns of the contours of constant pressure upper air charts. The manually constructed “4D” charts for such manual flight planning have since been replaced by numerical weather predictions that, are used in computerized flight planning.. Such flight planning is complicated by a lack of coordination between the ways with which vertical positions are coordinated in aeronautical and meteoro- logical practice that might well be alleviated by tailoring prognostic pressure pattern data for aeronautical use.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 51st Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1995) June 5 - 7, 1995 Antlers Doubletree Hotel Colorado Springs, CO
Pages:	523 - 527
Cite this article:	Updated citation: Published in NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation
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