One point, any proper weather briefing will determine where
and how far VFR conditions exist. Did that 30 years ago.
If you don't have any more than a compass you can find North
Dakota or Texas from Chicago or Atlanta. Today, even a $100
GPS will steer you pretty well ands aircraft walkie-talkies
are common, not so 30 years ago. But even without GPS or
radar, I could find a safe place to land.



"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
| On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:54:17 -0500, "Jim Macklin"
| wrote in
| :
|
| The Earth compass, was powered by a windmill, just as
many
| crop dusters power their spray pumps, and similarly to
using
| a venturi to power gyros, if you're flying you have
power.
| Using a retractable generator is even part of the modern
jet
| airliner.
|
| A propeller turned an armature, but there were no field
coils; the
| Earth's magnetic field played that role; thus no battery,
nor
| generator, nor venturi, nor vacuum pump nor any other
power source was
| required to operate it, unlike a slaved compass..
|
| Yes, when your G1000 dies, you will have very limited
| navigation or even communication options.
|
| If you're in IMC at the time of such a failure, you're
only landing
| option will be a GCA approach, unless you have portable
Nav equipment.
|
| Check out the
| difference between a Beech Baron or Bonanza G36/G58 and a
| Cessna NAV III on the manual section at Garmin. com
|
| What will I find?