Why are nautical miles used in aviation rather than statute miles?
Statute miles date back to the Roman Empire; 1,000 (left-right) paces by a Roman soldier equal one statute mile. But around the globe, pilots use nautical charts — similar to those originally designed for ships — based on longitude and latitude. The world is divided into 360 degrees, with 60 minutes to each degree. Each minute equals a nautical mile. 4. Do airlines use navigators today? No. Navigators, who sat in the cockpit and calculated an aircraft’s position and routing, were for the most part obsolete when Cap’n Meryl first took the controls in 1973. “Modern aircraft are equipped with everything we pilots need to navigate ourselves,” she says. 5. Can airplanes take off and land on autopilot? The autopilot can fly an airplane once in the air, and land it, but it cannot be used during takeoff. “Most pilots will hand fly the plane up to 10,000 feet or at cruise altitude before they engage the autopilot,” says Cap’n Meryl. The autopilot makes constant corrections for altitude and cour
