This makes me think of Shackleton's voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia on the James Caird. I love the analogy of swinging your compass and having a little bit of luck.
We had to swing the compasses on the P-3s even when we had 3 GPS on board. Last resort was always the wet compass on the glare shield. No electricty and at night, we still navigated. And a compass deviation of 1 degree over 2000 miles can leave you wet in a life raft looking at your out of fuel aircraft bobbing on the ocean
Wow, I like that metaphor of swinging the compass. Thanks for that!
Thanks Erik!
Swing the compass. Yes! Thank you, John.
No doubt, a good chart man was required when we operated in the Caribbean. So much easier to adjust heading and speed when GPS became available.
This makes me think of Shackleton's voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia on the James Caird. I love the analogy of swinging your compass and having a little bit of luck.
We had to swing the compasses on the P-3s even when we had 3 GPS on board. Last resort was always the wet compass on the glare shield. No electricty and at night, we still navigated. And a compass deviation of 1 degree over 2000 miles can leave you wet in a life raft looking at your out of fuel aircraft bobbing on the ocean
Until I was writing this, I didn't know that aircraft also swung their compasses, but it makes sense. One degree is a mile every 60 miles!