NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Celestial navigation races?
From: Christian Scheele
Date: 2009 Dec 2, 18:30 +0200
From: Christian Scheele
Date: 2009 Dec 2, 18:30 +0200
It would be quite something to have an air/yacht race, obviously over long distances or featureless terrain, that as a requirement for participation limits navigation methods to d.r. and celestial to the exclusion of all electronic navigational aids. The catch of course seems to be that GPS receivers are tiny and in any event passive, that is undetectable. But maybe there is a way around this. If you can isolate a jury from the public for a couple of days, make civilian airline travel in these strange times then surely there must be a way to ensure that flight crew comply with this navigation rule, key to the contest. This would of course be more complicated when it comes to yachts with their endless compartments. I understand that celestial navigation skills are not as uncommon in the yachting world as they are among today's pilots. In an air race, contenders could, for example, be given the option to choose the time at which they would like to start, subject to a certain window period. Starting times would then be noted individually for each crew. That means that contestants would have the option of making choices concerning the availability of certain celestial bodies at various predetermined stages of the race. Pilots or flight navigators would then have to choose a deliberate offset and LOP to get to the finishing line. Needless to say, under these conditions d.r. would again regain its old eminence, as would chart work. Pre-flight meteorological considerations would attain a new - or old - importance. You'd need some heavy sponsorers to get this thing on its feet. A stumbling block would obviously be heavy air traffic. This race should would ideally be set in a remote part of the globe, should any be left. I wonder how well the idea would be received by the sportsmen in consideration here. If people sail for the sport of it, then why shouldn't the sporting view extend to navigation? Christian Scheele -- NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList+@fer3.com
