The Air Force manual "Air Navigation" is on line here:
http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubfiles/af/11/afpam11-216/afpam11-216.pdf

This manual answers several FAQ that have come up that even some instructors
have no definitive answer for. Examples of things contained in this pamphlet
are:

How to navigate directly from one radio fix to another without using GPS
(you can solve it in seconds on your E6-B).

How to read a map.

How to tell how far away an object on the ground is.

How to navigate using stars.

Re-computing heading and distance using dead reckoning.

The mathematical formulas for solving wind triangles.

The rule of 60 for computing descents.

How to do grid navigation.

The pamphlet is 427 pages long so it might take awhile to download, but I
think it is extremely worthwhile.

"Air Navigation" is a supplement to AFPAM 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and
Procedures," which may be found on the same site.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


Ne Obliviscaris

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Air Navigation" is a supplement to AFPAM 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and
> Procedures," which may be found on the same site.

Excuse me, I meant AFPD 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and Procedures."

My wife (a legacy from her family) refers to things like People Magazine
as books.

Conversely, only a government agency would refer to a 427 page document
as a "pamphlet" on the cover page.

Bur nonetheless interesting

JJF


C J Campbell wrote:
> "C J Campbell" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>"Air Navigation" is a supplement to AFPAM 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and
>>Procedures," which may be found on the same site.
>
>
> Excuse me, I meant AFPD 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and Procedures."
>
>

Thanks CJ.
This complements nicely my copy of Technical Manual 1-205, AIR
NAVIGATION, issued by the War Department, Washington, November 25, 1940.
The front cover is stamped "GOVERNMENT PROPERTY" CONTRACT W686AC27368.

This is a newer version of my AFM 51-37 and AFM 51-50
BT

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
>
> "C J Campbell" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Air Navigation" is a supplement to AFPAM 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and
>> Procedures," which may be found on the same site.
>
> Excuse me, I meant AFPD 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and Procedures."
>
>

For the new AFM 51-37 you can download the AFMAN 11-217

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 09:02:17 -0800, "BTIZ" >
wrote:

>This is a newer version of my AFM 51-37 and AFM 51-50
>BT
>
>"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
>>
>> "C J Campbell" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>>
>>> "Air Navigation" is a supplement to AFPAM 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and
>>> Procedures," which may be found on the same site.
>>
>> Excuse me, I meant AFPD 11-2 "Aircraft Rules and Procedures."
>>
>>
>

>This manual answers several FAQ that have come up that even some instructors
>have no definitive answer for. Examples of things contained in this pamphlet
>are:
>
>How to navigate directly from one radio fix to another without using GPS
>(you can solve it in seconds on your E6-B).
>
>How to read a map.
>
>Re-computing heading and distance using dead reckoning.
>
There are INSTRUCTORS who don't know those things? Incredible!

There shouldn't even be any private pilots who don't know them!

But unfortunately, I know there are. Now I know why.

>How to navigate using stars.

If you mean knowing how to find North, I thought even most kids knew
that.

If you mean celestial navigation, there isn't much point in private
pilots learning that, unless it's just to satisfy their intellectual
curiosity. Celestial nav requires expensive equipment and intensive
training; and in any case is virtually impossible to carry out while
flying a private aircraft.

I understand even the Naval Academy no longer teaches celestial nav,
which does kinda sadden me, if only for nostalgic reasons.

vince norris

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 10:21:10 -0600, Foster > wrote:

>My wife (a legacy from her family) refers to things like People Magazine
>as books.

It's standard usage in the magazine business to refer to them as
"books."

vince norris

"vincent p. norris" > wrote in message
...
> >This manual answers several FAQ that have come up that even some
instructors
> >have no definitive answer for. Examples of things contained in this
pamphlet
> >are:
> >
> >How to navigate directly from one radio fix to another without using GPS
> >(you can solve it in seconds on your E6-B).
> >
> >How to read a map.
> >
> >Re-computing heading and distance using dead reckoning.
> >
> There are INSTRUCTORS who don't know those things? Incredible!

Be careful about jumping to conclusions. There are all kinds of people who
were taught improperly or who have forgotten what they were taught perhaps
years ago. I never take it for granted or assume that anything was included
in any particular syllabus.

This reference I thought was particularly well written, an aid to those who
want another resource to teach their students, and something that had all
this material on navigation in one place. On the other hand, I suppose I
could adopt your attitude and simply sneer at the world for being so
ignorant, and refuse to share knowledge with it. I don't think I will,
though. I have to teach something. I can't help it. Been that way as long as
I can remember.

vincent p. norris > wrote:
> If you mean celestial navigation, there isn't much point in private
> pilots learning that, unless it's just to satisfy their intellectual
> curiosity. Celestial nav requires expensive equipment and intensive
> training; and in any case is virtually impossible to carry out while
> flying a private aircraft.

The equipment isn't really that expensive. You can buy a reconditioned
aviation sextant for $990
(http://www.celestaire.com/catalog/products/1502.html), and perfectly good
brand new marine one for about $400 ($1,000 for a top-of-the-line model).
You'll need a "chronometer" (which these days means a $10 digital watch)
and some books of astronomical tables (or, more likely these days, a
program for your calculator or laptop).

There is certainly an investment in training (probably 20 hours of
classroom time). The biggest problem is that any aircraft most of us are
ever likely to get access to won't have an observation port. For $5.4
Million, however, you could get yourself a T-43A
(http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/t-43.htm) and go to town. Flight
crew not included.

> I understand even the Naval Academy no longer teaches celestial nav,
> which does kinda sadden me, if only for nostalgic reasons.

I agree with Vincent. Celestial nav is cool, but just isn't useful any
more. It's an interesting thing to learn, but only any practical value is
long since gone. GPS drove the last nail in the celestial coffin 10 years
ago.

Roy, I agree that GPS has ended the need for celestial nav (it was more
talked about than actually used except in commercial and military - and
a few adventurers)... However, GPS has not ended the need for other
means of navigation... The fact that GPS can be jammed from the ground
over a wide area, simply and at low cost, has the Pentagon thinking...
Just as differential GPS (WAAS) is the hot thing in GPS today for
improving accuracy, differential Loran is being actively implemented...

"LORAN?!? I thought that went away years ago.", sez Charley
McCarthy.... <for those block heads old enough to catch the reference>

Nope, not a bit... The gov't in it's infinite wisdom is spending mucho
bucks on a multi year project installing differential Loran
transmitters... Now, yes this is immediately aimed at commercial
shipping around large ports, but remember, the large brown pieces roll
down hill, getting smaller and less expensive as they go... So, don't
pull out your Loran gear just yet because it is going to be with us for
a long time...

As a guy who learned to fly when an NDB approach was state of the art
<whoever that guy Art was>, I still drag paper charts around with
me... I love my moving map GPS <boy have I gotten lazy> but as a guy
who made his living in electronics I know how fast all the magic smoke
can leak out of those little black, chip thingies... Notice that the
gov't is still investing in new ILS installations... My podunk airport
has one 98% finished and waiting on activation... So, don't give up
practicing the various types of ILS / VOR navigation...

denny

Denny > wrote:
>Roy, I agree that GPS has ended the need for celestial nav (it was more
>talked about than actually used except in commercial and military - and
>a few adventurers)... However, GPS has not ended the need for other
>means of navigation...

I never said it did. My guess is the ILS is going to be here for a
long time.

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
> The Air Force manual "Air Navigation" is on line here:
> http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubfiles/af/11/afpam11-216/afpam11-216.pdf
>
> --
> Christopher J. Campbell
> World Famous Flight Instructor
> Port Orchard, WA
>
>
> Ne Obliviscaris

Thanks for the link.

It is a 70,928kb .pdf It downloaded ok but would repeatedly time out when I
tried to save it to disk. I had to slowly page down through all 427 pages
to force the graphics to load, then it saved ok.

Blue skies to all

>> There are INSTRUCTORS who don't know those things? Incredible!
>
>Be careful about jumping to conclusions.

But C.J., you're the one who said that!

I realize it doesn't mean that ALL instructors are that ignorant.

>This reference I thought was particularly well written, an aid to those who
>want another resource to teach their students, and something that had all
>this material on navigation in one place.

I wasn't criticizing you for posting that info. I wasn't even
criticizing you for making the above statement. I was expressing
dismay at the circumstance you described.

vince norris

> Celestial nav requires expensive equipment and intensive
>> training; and in any case is virtually impossible to carry out while
>> flying a private aircraft.
>
>The equipment isn't really that expensive. You can buy a reconditioned
>aviation sextant for $990

That's what I call expensive!

>and some books of astronomical tables (or, more likely these days, a
>program for your calculator or laptop).

Because of the small market for those books, I assumed they are pretty
darned expensive, too. But I found a Nautical Almanac at Amazon for
under $20. Not sure if it's the same book, but it seems to be. When
I tried to find a copy of Star Tables, all I could get was stuff about
Star Trek.
>
>There is certainly an investment in training (probably 20 hours of
>classroom time).

Well, I didn't count them, but I'm sure I spent a hell of a lot more
than 20 hours learning celestial nav as an aviation cadet at Pensacola
and Corpus Christi. The University of Illinois must have thought so,
too; when I got out and went back there, and showed them my service
records, they gave me 30 semester of college credits in celestial
navigation! That's a full college year of work! (That enabled me to
get my degree and begin grad work one year earlier than I expected.)

> Celestial nav is cool, but just isn't useful any more. It's an interesting
>thing to learn, but only any practical value is long since gone.
>GPS drove the last nail in the celestial coffin 10 years ago.

About five years ago, a friend and several of his friends who have
much more money than I have, sailed a catamaran around the world. A
big one, both hulls 40 feet long. He carried three GPS units, but he
also learned celestial nav before he set out, just in case.

vince norris

>As a guy who learned to fly when an NDB approach was state of the art...

Geez, you must be as old as I am!

> I still drag paper charts around with me...

I can't even imagine going very far from home without paper charts.
Like you, I love my GPS and have been spoiled by it, but it's really
there in case my radios fail in IFR. Half the fun of flying VFR is
following my progress on a sectional chart.

vince norris

"vincent p. norris" > wrote in message
...
>
> About five years ago, a friend and several of his friends who have
> much more money than I have, sailed a catamaran around the world. A
> big one, both hulls 40 feet long. He carried three GPS units, but he
> also learned celestial nav before he set out, just in case.
>

I also sail and have always said that if (when) I go way offshore (eg
Newport-Bermuda) I would learn celestial. Why? practically speaking I always
said I don't want to rely on batteries and satellites.

But to be honest, what's more likely to fail? A couple of ruggedized
solid-state electronic devices in a waterproof bag, or a piece of machinery
built to jewelry precision and a stack of paper tables?

And don't tell me about the satellites- if the GPS network goes down for an
extended time (at sailboat speeds, being without GPS for a few days
shouldn't be a big deal) then I suspect I won't want to be finding
civilization anytime soon.

-cwk.

"Colin W Kingsbury" > wrote

> I also sail and have always said that if (when) I go way offshore (eg
> Newport-Bermuda) I would learn celestial. Why? practically speaking I
always
> said I don't want to rely on batteries and satellites.
>
> But to be honest, what's more likely to fail? A couple of ruggedized
> solid-state electronic devices in a waterproof bag, or a piece of
machinery
> built to jewelry precision and a stack of paper tables?
>
> And don't tell me about the satellites- if the GPS network goes down for
an
> extended time (at sailboat speeds, being without GPS for a few days
> shouldn't be a big deal) then I suspect I won't want to be finding
> civilization anytime soon.
>
> -cwk.

Yep, and with sailing, sal****er gets into everything that is totally
watetproofed, too. Don't ask how; it is a rule. It is also a rule that
electrons, transistors and sal****er are not friends. <g>

It is also good, that by the time
--
Jim in NC you get done with the sights, and lookups, and calculations, you
are not 25 miles away, in a sailboat! (unless you are really slow) <g>

Handy hint...

For .PDF's, right click the link, then select "Save target as..."

This will allow you to save it directly to your disk with no timeout
problems. And if you find it's something you don't want to keep, you can
always delete it.



"private" > wrote in message
news:fFOUd.529485$8l.443020@pd7tw1no...
>
> "C J Campbell" > wrote in message
> ...
> > The Air Force manual "Air Navigation" is on line here:
> >
http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubfiles/af/11/afpam11-216/afpam11-216.pdf
> >
> > --
> > Christopher J. Campbell
> > World Famous Flight Instructor
> > Port Orchard, WA
> >
> >
> > Ne Obliviscaris
>
> Thanks for the link.
>
> It is a 70,928kb .pdf It downloaded ok but would repeatedly time out when
I
> tried to save it to disk. I had to slowly page down through all 427 pages
> to force the graphics to load, then it saved ok.
>
> Blue skies to all
>
>

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 05:28:01 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
> wrote in
et>::

>But to be honest, what's more likely to fail? A couple of ruggedized
>solid-state electronic devices in a waterproof bag, or a piece of machinery
>built to jewelry precision and a stack of paper tables?

All it would take for both of them to fail is several days of dense
overcast weather. Perhaps a backup compass would be prudent. :-)

"Colin W Kingsbury" > writes:
> "vincent p. norris" > wrote
> >
> > About five years ago, a friend and several of his friends who have
> > much more money than I have, sailed a catamaran around the world. A
> > big one, both hulls 40 feet long. He carried three GPS units, but he
> > also learned celestial nav before he set out, just in case.
>
> I also sail and have always said that if (when) I go way offshore (eg
> Newport-Bermuda) I would learn celestial. Why? practically speaking I always
> said I don't want to rely on batteries and satellites.

As a fail-safe, if you turn west won't you get to North America
in some reasonable amount of time?

> But to be honest, what's more likely to fail? A couple of ruggedized
> solid-state electronic devices in a waterproof bag, or a piece of machinery
> built to jewelry precision and a stack of paper tables?
>
> And don't tell me about the satellites- if the GPS network goes down for an
> extended time (at sailboat speeds, being without GPS for a few days
> shouldn't be a big deal) then I suspect I won't want to be finding
> civilization anytime soon.

Thanks Bill.

I knew there had to be an easier way.

I am not usually a big Acrobat fan. For such a big program it is not very
full functional. Maybe I just have not spent enough effort to learn all of
it.

Blue skies to all

"Lakeview Bill" > wrote in message
. com...
> Handy hint...
>
> For .PDF's, right click the link, then select "Save target as..."
>
> This will allow you to save it directly to your disk with no timeout
> problems. And if you find it's something you don't want to keep, you can
> always delete it.
>
>
>
> "private" > wrote in message
> news:fFOUd.529485$8l.443020@pd7tw1no...
> >
> > "C J Campbell" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > The Air Force manual "Air Navigation" is on line here:
> > >
> http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubfiles/af/11/afpam11-216/afpam11-216.pdf
> > >
> > > --
> > > Christopher J. Campbell
> > > World Famous Flight Instructor
> > > Port Orchard, WA
> > >
> > >
> > > Ne Obliviscaris
> >
> > Thanks for the link.
> >
> > It is a 70,928kb .pdf It downloaded ok but would repeatedly time out
when
> I
> > tried to save it to disk. I had to slowly page down through all 427
pages
> > to force the graphics to load, then it saved ok.
> >
> > Blue skies to all
> >
> >
>
>

"Everett M. Greene" > wrote in message
...
> "Colin W Kingsbury" > writes:
> > "vincent p. norris" > wrote
> > >
> > > About five years ago, a friend and several of his friends who have
> > > much more money than I have, sailed a catamaran around the world. A
> > > big one, both hulls 40 feet long. He carried three GPS units, but he
> > > also learned celestial nav before he set out, just in case.
> >
> > I also sail and have always said that if (when) I go way offshore (eg
> > Newport-Bermuda) I would learn celestial. Why? practically speaking I
always
> > said I don't want to rely on batteries and satellites.
>
> As a fail-safe, if you turn west won't you get to North America
> in some reasonable amount of time?
>

True, but at sailboat speeds (often 5-6kts groundspeed) the penalty for such
shenanigans is often measured in weeks. If someone on the boat gets
appendicitis, or injured, well... Yes there is an EPIRB to activate and
anyone crossing blue water these days is carrying a nice GPS-squawking
406Mhz unit, but you're still in a small boat in a very large ocean and if
you can't help yourself there is simply no guarantee anyone else can help
you either. And if you're crossing an ocean, the difference between a good
course and a "turn west and we'll hit it" course might exceed the capacity
of your fresh-water tanks.

-cwk.

-cwk.

Y'All,
I fought the celestial vs electronics battle through most of WWII.
I was with the B-29s initially in India as radar bombardment mechanic. I
had learned LORAN at Boca Raton, FL and it
became my duty to try to keep the APN-4 in my group (468th)
operational. The set was in two units each the size of a 19" TV.
40 vacumn tubes made it operate until higher altitudes caused electrical
malfunctions. Only good for 600 miles at night in the
best of conditions. Reliability always in doubt due to tube failure,
vibration of connections, corrosion and operator skills..

By ship to Tinian in the Pacific. Assigned to 58th Wing Training center to
teach LORAN. New B-29s coming over with APN-9
which was only the size of one 19' TV. New planes were taken over by senior
officers and older planes assigned to new arrivals.
Result was that I was given the job of training old navigators on
the -9 and the new on the -4. As a Corporal instructor I ranked
my students none of whom wanted to learn about something they had previously
learned not to trust. Tough teaching assignment but
made me want to become a teacher.

Skilled operator could get fix in less than 3 minutes. This involved
matching the counting of signal time differences in microseconds from the
master/slave pair and finding the line on a LORAN chart.
Do the same thing with another pair and you had your fix with built in
travel-time error..

Much of the 2800 mile flight to Japan was at lower levels with stations on
islands like Ulithi. Good LORAN range and accuracy. Flights required
passage through weather fronts that reduced use of
celestial navigation and increased reliance on electronic. We even
had first inertial systems which read out longitude and latitude as
an odometer in the newer planes.. My plane has a hard-wired LORAN the size
of cigar box. Last military LORANs were in the APN-30s.

Still celestial ruled with electronics a step-child category. The rule of
primacy still reigned and LORAN was just a back-up. Experience in India had
made navigators unwilling to trust both RADAR and LORAN navigation when
celestial was possible..

At the end of the war I was seeing the birth of DME as the slant range to a
bomb release point. RNAV as used to put bearing and distance to radar
visible target to hit non-radar target. Even the first German radio
controlled bomb was instrumental in sending me to India as a replacement. At
war's end I was operator/mechanic of a
supersonic bombardment simulator that had the Nagasaki chart installed for
practice bombing runs in the immediate vicinity of Nagasaki. Device used
tank of water with underwater maps made
of sand and beads to give radar-scope pictures of Japan by using a vibrating
underwater crystal to send to scale transmissions and echos back to the
scope.

Greatest change in all of this WWII technollogy has been in reduction of
size, speed of presentation and availability
Gene Whitt

("Gene Whitt" wrote)
> Y'All,
> I fought the celestial vs electronics battle through most of WWII.
> I was with the B-29s initially in India as radar bombardment mechanic. I
> had learned LORAN at Boca Raton, FL and it
> became my duty to try to keep the APN-4 in my group (468th)
> operational. The set was in two units each the size of a 19" TV.
> 40 vacumn tubes made it operate until higher altitudes caused electrical
> malfunctions. Only good for 600 miles at night in the
> best of conditions. Reliability always in doubt due to tube failure,
> vibration of connections, corrosion and operator skills..
<snip...>


Thank you for the interesting write-up Gene.


Montblack

Thank You for You Service Gene!

Patrick

Gene Whitt wrote:
>
> I fought the celestial vs electronics battle through most of WWII.

Very interesting. Thanks.

George Patterson
I prefer Heaven for climate but Hell for company.

"Gene Whitt" > wrote in message ink.net...
> Y'All,
> I fought the celestial vs electronics battle through most of WWII.
<...>
> Greatest change in all of this WWII technollogy has been in reduction of size, speed of presentation and availability
> Gene Whitt
>

Wow, very interesting...

Y'All,
Thanks for the kind words, friends.. A more complete posting about how I
won WWII without knowing it is on my website at the very end of the IFR
section Page 7.91 and some others along with a WWII Chart with practice
bomb runs. Nagasaki in the lower
right. Blow up chart to see better.
www.whittsflying.com

gene

"Gene Whitt" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> [...]
> Greatest change in all of this WWII technollogy has been in reduction of
> size, speed of presentation and availability

Boy, I'll say. And I thought my Northstar M1 was primitive. At least it
actually displays the numbers in their final calculated form. :)

Thanks for sharing...