A navigation error of 0.5° over a 600 nmi leg results in how many nautical miles off course?

To determine how many nautical miles off course a navigation error of 0.5° results in over a 600 nautical mile leg, we can use a simple trigonometric relationship. The distance off course can be calculated using the formula:

Distance off course = Total distance × sin(Error angle)

In this scenario, the total distance is 600 nautical miles and the error angle is 0.5°. First, we need to convert the angle into radians, since trigonometric functions often use radians. However, for small angles, we can approximate sin(θ) as θ (in degrees) being converted to a fraction of 180°:

sin(0.5°) ≈ 0.5° × (π/180) ≈ 0.00872665 (but we can use the small angle approximation directly in practice).

Now applying the formula:

Distance off course ≈ 600 nmi × sin(0.5°).

Using the sin(0.5°) value directly in calculations generally shows that:

Distance off course ≈ 600 nmi × 0.00872665 ≈ 5.24 nmi.

Thus, the correct answer indicates that a navigation error of 0.5