Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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What is your Primary navigation tool for VFR flight?

GPS
195
89%
Paper Chart
17
8%
Other (explain in the comments please).
7
3%
#1682125
To be fair Bomber Command navigators were operating at night usually without moonlight, and without accurate wind forecasts Bit different to me bimbling about in daytime vfr. But mostly they couldn't do it - hence the need for the Pathfinders with ground mapping radar equipment and electronic navaids. Even then accuracy was poor because the bombers were supposed to aim at the Pathfinders target market flares, but would drop their bombs early and aim at the centre of the fires on the ground which caused "creep back". The RAF bomb sights weren't much good either cf what the USAAF had.
This is not to detract from the bravery of the men or from the contribution they made.
#1682132
The Norden bomb sight would allegedly put a bomb into a pickle barrel from 30,000ft.

The problem was that it couldn't see through cloud so was useless in northern Europe for a good percentage of the time. Eventually the USAAF pragmatically did away with bomb aimers for most aircraft and they all just toggled as the leader dropped his

The RAF claimed that the American bombing would have been better if German factories had pickle barrels fixed to the roof. ;)

@Chris Martyr Apologies.. I of course meant 'relatively easy' compared to the main force navigators trying to find their way over the more featureless areas of Germany not scattered with highly visible waypoints.

Rob P
Chris Martyr liked this
#1682148
Well, NATS/CAA doesn't agree that GPS should be our primary navigation tool for VFR navigation :D

From the latest Joint Warrior AIC they have just published, the GPS jamming isn't going to bother us VFR pilots, as it only a cross check on our dead reckoning which "should always be used" :lol:

4.3 For VFR operations, conventional means of navigation including dead reckoning should always be used. Operators of aircraft should be prepared for erroneous readings if cross checking with GNSS in the area predicted to be affected by the jamming trials.
Lockhaven liked this
#1682150
scottish_ppl wrote:Well, NATS/CAA doesn't agree that GPS should be our primary navigation tool for VFR navigation :D

From the latest Joint Warrior AIC they have just published, the GPS jamming isn't going to bother us VFR pilots, as it only a cross check on our dead reckoning which "should always be used" :lol:

4.3 For VFR operations, conventional means of navigation including dead reckoning should always be used. Operators of aircraft should be prepared for erroneous readings if cross checking with GNSS in the area predicted to be affected by the jamming trials.


It’s not “Dead Reckoning”
It’s “DED Reckoning”.
#1682205
There was a Garmin GPS that did dead reckoning, even if satellite signals were lost. It required a cable connection to the speedometer and reversing light. Not very practical in an aircraft, I reckon.

... the StreetPilot 2650 has dead reckoning capabilities, so you will continue to get navigation guidance even when GPS signals are obscured
#1682233
patowalker wrote:There was a Garmin GPS that did dead reckoning, even if satellite signals were lost. It required a cable connection to the speedometer and reversing light. Not very practical in an aircraft, I reckon.

... the StreetPilot 2650 has dead reckoning capabilities, so you will continue to get navigation guidance even when GPS signals are obscured


Perfectly practical in an aircraft. Just a bit expensive!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_ ... ion_system
#1682244
lobstaboy wrote:
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
Crash one wrote:It’s not “Dead Reckoning”
It’s “DED Reckoning”.


Nay.

We've discussed this before on here. :-)


http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... reckoning/



I don’t particularly care when or who invented which term or spelling.
To my mind the navigation is performed by calculation from known information resulting in a deduced heading/time/speed. Death has nothing to do with it, neither has dead in the water because that implies a stationary position. What is being “reckoned” is a movement from some place to another place.
Deduced seems to me to be a more logical term. The reasoning for Dead just doesn’t stack up.
Less well educated people would have been more familiar with the word “dead” than the word “deduced”, press ganged ships crews from the lower orders of society spring to mind. :D
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