NavList:

Gary LaPook, you wrote:
"What's wrong with using the Air Almanac"

It has a couple of negatives. Then again it has some positives, too, that cancel out those negatives! So I agree. Overall the Air Almanac should be an excellent choice. But there are a couple of issues, and the biggest is that most navigation students today come to the subject with many pre-conceived notions and specific expectations about what they want from a class. Most want a certificate now rather than real knowledge or skill, and this is a noticeable change from a decade ago. They want something called the "nautical almanac". It's supposed to be in the kit! If it doesn't say that on the label, they don't get it, and they don't want it.

A secondary concern that I think is worth noting: we don't have any assurance that the almanac authorities will continue to produce the Air Almanac as a digital publication. If they stop next year, then classes have to be re-designed, and students who learned to use it feel like they have to start over.

Frank Reed