NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Is Sextant a generic word?
From: Gary LaPook
Date: 2016 Dec 8, 15:11 -0800
From: Gary LaPook
Date: 2016 Dec 8, 15:11 -0800
I think to non-technical people they are all sextants and it conveys that they are instuments used for navigation. Aircraft bubble sextants are actually octants since they only measure up to 90 degrees but there is no reason for them to have a greater range since they are not use for horizontal sextant angles, back sights or lunars. The data plate on my A-10A bubble octant says "sextant" as do the data plates on the Kollsman MA-1, MA-2, and periscopic octants. The data plate on my A-7 bubble octant says "octant."
gl
