Radio Navigator
Glossary

Relative bearing

Direct answer

Relative bearing is the angle from the aircraft’s nose round to the station, measured clockwise from 000 at the nose. It is what a fixed-card ADF needle shows directly.

Also written as: RB, ADF needle reading.

A fixed-card ADF has 000 at the top and does not rotate, so the needle is reporting the station’s position relative to the aeroplane rather than relative to north. That reading on its own does not tell you a bearing you could fly; it has to be combined with your heading.

The conversion is addition: magnetic heading plus relative bearing gives the magnetic bearing to the station, subtracting 360 if the total runs past it. An RMI does exactly this for you by driving the card with the compass, which is why an RMI needle can be read as a bearing straight off the instrument.

Where this comes up

Sources

  1. FAA Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Chapter 9 (Navigation Systems). ADF relative bearing and the magnetic-bearing conversion.

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This article does not constitute flight instruction. Always defer to the guidance of your qualified flight instructor and to current charts and procedures or regulations published by your country's aviation authority.

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