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#51
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
"EridanMan" wrote:
Note - this was a semi-inebriated, pedantic rant, I just thought it might stimulate some good discussion Isn't there a Usenet regulation of 8 hours between drinking and posting? Or is it 8 hours of drinking before posting? And frankly I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, to see pedantry on Usenet! |
#52
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
On Apr 4, 2:52 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
Early ships navigated using a compass as one important instrument, but a compass along was never good enough. It wasn't enough four hundred years ago, and it's not enough now. If all you have is a compass, you're in deep trouble. Sorry, I have to mildly disagree as far as flying goes, that you'd automatically be in "deep trouble". Many pilots use just the compass / DG for cross-country flying. For cross-water... an airplane, at a sufficient area altitude, does not have to worry about running aground. Therefore a simple compass was "good enough" for winged flight across the Atlantic starting in 1919. which is not "four hundred years" ago. True, when crossing longer distances towards smaller targets (such as islands in the Pacific), star sightings were important, or even on shorter distances with unknown wind, but the compass was still the main direction finder. Kev |
#53
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
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#54
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
Peter Dohm wrote:
The magnetic compass has exactly one thing in its favor, and that is just plain old Brute Reliability. I like the mag compass too. While they don't rely on any aircraft systems to work, there are things that can cause them to be innacurate. The earths magnetic field varies in strength and isn't all that constant in all locations (and it's getting worse). I was reading Lindbergh's book about his transatlantic flight and at one point, both his whiskey compass and Earth Inductor Compass were just wobbling around uselessly. Eventually, they both started working again on their own, but he was guessing at his heading for nearly an hour. I can relate. I have a video that I took on a cross country flight, of my mag compass doing rapid 360s. It lasted about 5 min. and there were no magnetic anomolies listed on the chart in that area. There were also no UFO sightings reported that day :-)) John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180) -- Message posted via AviationKB.com http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...ation/200704/1 |
#55
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
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#56
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
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#57
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
It's a nuisance for maintenance, but it frees
the pilot from calculating the variation at the operative time. Just to off-load the pilot. A good answer. Same for winds in flight, etc. Everything is based on the magnetic to make it easier for the pilot. [..] Oops! I can't believe I wrote that about winds in flight. Of course they're true, so they can be used over a wider area. Winds at the _airport_ are magnetic, is what I meant to say... so the pilot doesn't have to convert while landing. Hmm. So if we switched to true North navigation, then runways would all need repainting... but at least they and the VORs wouldn't have to be changed ever again ;-) Seems like something the government would come up with to save money! Kev I was wondering whether to mention something about the probable long term causes of drift in variation--and then I finally noticed the smiley. Thanks :-))) Peter |
#58
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
"EridanMan" wrote in message
oups.com... ... Why in gods name are VOR's Mag heading based? Because that's how God intended it. -- Geoff The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate. |
#59
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message ... Maxwell writes: What did you have for dinner last night, Welsh Rarebit???? My point is that you have to strike a balance between assuming all equipment will work perfectly and depending on that, and assuming that all equipment will fail and trying to plan for that. In reality, chances are that all equipment will work; and the chances of equipment failing diminish rapidly as the number of simultaneous failures increases. It's true that a compass always works--more or less, since compasses are so finicky even when they are "working"--but I'm not sure that this is really much of a practical help if nothing else works. All a compass can do is tell you your direction of flight in a very approximate way. That isn't much use for getting where you want to go. Charts help a lot, but you need more than a compass to find out where you are on the chart, and if you don't know where you are on a chart, a compass won't help. Early ships navigated using a compass as one important instrument, but a compass along was never good enough. It wasn't enough four hundred years ago, and it's not enough now. If all you have is a compass, you're in deep trouble. You're actually better off with an accurate watch and a way to shoot the stars. But even that is more of a theoretical method than a practical method these days. When people talk about how this old method or that old method is reliable, they tend to forget how many people died in the days when these "reliable" methods were the only ones available. So....ya say ya went back for more. |
#60
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Why The Hell... (random rant)
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message ... writes: Sorry, I have to mildly disagree as far as flying goes, that you'd automatically be in "deep trouble". Many pilots use just the compass / DG for cross-country flying. A compass / DG is not just a compass. You can't do much with just a compass alone. You need a clock, some charts, other things ... not _just_ a compass. Therefore a simple compass was "good enough" for winged flight across the Atlantic starting in 1919. which is not "four hundred years" ago. They had more than a simple compass. In particular, they had accurate clocks, and charts. You need to go back to the breast feeding forum, at least you have some recent and actual experience in the subject......or was it just for mothers????? |
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