piloting

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of pilot.

   The captain is piloting the ship through dangerous waters.

   Piloting heavy aircraft demands constant attention to the instruments.

   Note

   One -ing form does two jobs here. After be it is the verb (she is piloting the ferry), and as a subject or object it is a gerund (piloting demands attention). It carries every meaning of pilot, from flying an aircraft to trialing a new product: piloting a scheme means testing it on a small scale first. Keep the gerund apart from the navigation method, which names a technique rather than the act of steering.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   A method of navigation in which a vessel's position is determined by relation to visible external reference points such as landmarks, buoys, and coastlines.

   Like navigating a city by recognizing familiar buildings rather than counting your steps from the starting point.

   Near the coast, the navigator relied on piloting to fix the ship's position.

   Piloting works best where buoys, lighthouses, and shorelines are clearly in view.

   Similarpilotage

   Note

   A navigator's term for fixing position by what can be seen and charted: a bearing on a lighthouse, a buoy, a stretch of coastline. It is usually uncountable, so you rely on piloting rather than on a piloting, though the plural pilotings exists. The method contrasts with techniques that work without outside marks, such as dead reckoning, which is why piloting belongs to coastal and harbor waters.

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