editmonkey wrote: ... it really tickles me pink that the aviation community have developed good procedures for map folding. It's brilliant and I don't know why it surprised me.
Just to fill your current boredom with some mildly interesting aviation lore.
The aviation community developed nothing, it was all the work of one man, a low hours, student pilot much like yourself.
Back in 1988 - yes they did have aeroplanes then - I was fortunate to wind up at Wellesbourne Aviation, an excellent flying school and club that no longer exists.
One of my fellow trainees was Duncan, a gangly, good-humoured type who was earning a fortune from doing computer things - we had those back then too.
We progressed at roughly the same rate, and when it came to ground school Duncan, Geoffrey, Keith and I ended up forming a loose study group. There was intense competition, any exam score below 100% was seen as letting the group down. Meetings were held after ground school in the Boars Head at Hampton Lucy, and were also attended by our instructor 'Captain' Rick Ions, a raconteur, bon viveur and grateful recipient of many pints of Flower Original funded by we four. We learned more about flying in the pub than in the ground school.
As we moved on to navigation we all became frustrated because Wellesbourne Mountford Aerodrome was awkwardly placed on the half mil and any flight over a few miles resulted in frantic chart folding and unfolding.
Then one night Duncan arrived, beaming, and brandishing his neatly folded chart. Whether he'd used computers or just his convoluted brain to work it out he had invented a fold that meant whichever direction you headed in, refolding was kept to a minimum. The McKillop fold was born, and rightly named after him. We thought it was a thing at Wellesbourne alone, but in modern parlance it went viral, and still has a valued role today.
Duncan went on to Yak 52 after he qualified, then lost his way and went over to eggbeaters and finally yottie stuff. Keith became an airline pilot, training captain and as far as I know still flies today. Geoff became my flying buddy and together we conquered Europe - well France at least.
Rick passed away a few years back, Duncan and I met up again at his funeral.
Me? I ended up here.
So when you flip the fold for the next bit of your QXC leg, say a small thank you to Duncan McKillop.
Rob P
An idle thought prompted by the last few days. I am so glad I learned at a school where the instructors were all amateurs in the job for the sheer joy of flying. Not one was an out-to-grass airline pilot trying to instil disciplined flying, holding height and course to within x degrees. I am uncertain that the return from Cambridge at about 400 ft, swerving around cottages so as not to break the 500ft rule was ever really in the syllabus, but Rick referred to it as 'bad weather' training. Without a GPS it actually is very difficult, but HUGE fun.