Why do aviation and maritime/nautics use the same terminologies? Why do they have the same terms and measurement systems but not the same for land?
Why do aviation and maritime/nautics use the same terminologies? Why do they have the same terms and measurement systems but not the same for land?
Comments
Aviation adopted existing naval terms and measurements because they used the same charts and maps for navigation.
Both would navigate over long distances using latitude, longitude, and compass bearings.
Land-based transportation came first, it mostly happens on roads so you need terms for roads. You pretty much always know where you are because you are following roads – and if in doubt, you can ask someone.
On an ocean you are not limited to roads any more, you can go in any direction and determining where you are is a major challenge, so people came up with new ways to navigate and communicate.
Flying an airplane is a bit like being a ship – you don’t have roads to follow, and you need to determine where you are and what direction you have to go to reach your destination. It was natural to adopt methods from ships.