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"It was a fourteenth the size of the smallest compulsory landfall made
by an
aeroplane. From New Zealand it presented a target half a degree in
width. And my
compass, recently swung twice on that bearing, had varied 9 degrees
during the
interval; further, it was nothing to drift 30 degrees in a stiff wind.
And since
an error in the course of only 5 degrees meant passing the island 50
miles away,
it was plain I could only depend on the sun to find it.

"Instead of heading direct for the island, I altered course 10 degrees
for a
point 90 miles to the left of it. Flying towards this imaginary point,
I must
observe the sun carefully until it gave me the exact bearing of
Norfolk Island
on my right, and showed me to be on the line through point and island.
I must
then immediately turn to the right and head direct for the island.

"I must make no mistake and turn neither a minute too soon nor a
minute too
late."

Seaplane Solo, Francis C. Chichester, 1934.


The offset had nothing to do with a possible error in the sextant
reading which
he needed to be accurate enough to put him on the LOP through Norfolk
close
enough to spot the island. The offset related to the possible error in
the DR
after traveling almost 600 miles.


The book is great, very exiting and well written

Also see the topic Single LOP landfall procedure at my website:
http://www.geocities.com/fredienoonan/

gl

On Aug 1, 6:26�pm, Tom Sult  wrote:
> Gary....
> Sounds like a great day at the Aerodrome! �I also am a pilot, and �
> would love a copy of the book. �If you can email it to ts...@mac.com �
> Thanks.
> Thomas A. Sult, MD
> IntegraCare Clinicwww.icareclinics.com
> ts...@charter.net
>
> On Jul 31, 2009, at 8:59 PM, Gary LaPook wrote:
>
>
>
> > My interest in the Bygrave was triggered by my reading Sir Francis
> > Chichester's account of flying a Moth, open cockpit single engine
> > airplane across the Tasman Sea in 1931 doing celnav on the way to find
> > two tiny islands where he could refuel, each leg about 500 nautical
> > miles. Today, at Headcorn Aerodrome in England, I had the �
> > opportunity to
> > fly the same type of aircraft and my admiration for Chichester �
> > increased
> > ten fold. It is a very light aircraft so it is bounced around a lot my
> > even the lightest turbulence. The controls are very sensitive,
> > especially in pitch, so it takes a lot of concentration to keep the
> > plane flying straight and level. It is also very noisy and the wind
> > blows vigorously through the cockpit. I don't know how Chichester
> > managed to do it, flying the plane, shooting sun lines with �a marine
> > sextant, doing the computations with the Bygrave (holding it
> > horizontally so it didn't get blown out of the cockpit), estimating
> > drift angle, and plotting the LOPs and the drift lines. I recommend �
> > this
> > book, Seaplane Solo, to everybody and I can email a copy to anyone who
> > is interested.
>
> > gl
>
>
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