Definition
True course is the intended horizontal direction of flight over the ground, measured in degrees clockwise from true north (the geographic North Pole). It is the course drawn on a chart between departure and destination, before any corrections for wind or magnetic variation are applied.
Plain English
The straight-line direction you plan to travel across the ground, measured from true north on the map.
Context Anchor
Seen in flight planning, navigation logs, and chart work when measuring the direction from one point to another.
Derivation
‘True’ here refers to true north — the actual geographic North Pole — as opposed to magnetic north, which is where a compass points. ‘Course’ comes from the Latin ‘cursus,’ meaning a path or running route. So true course literally means ‘the planned path measured from true north.’
Why Pilots Care
Provides a consistent reference for navigation that does not change with local magnetic variation, allowing reliable course plotting and corrections.
Intuition Check
True does not mean “best” or “most accurate” here. It means the course is measured from true north rather than magnetic north.
Example Sentence 1
After drawing the line from the home airport to the practice area, the student measured a true course of 045° against the nearest meridian.
Example Sentence 2
After finding the true course on the chart, the pilot applied magnetic variation to get the compass heading.