NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Jeremy C
Date: 2013 May 3, 06:09 -0700
I was thinking about the same thing Gary. Your observations were in the tropics where seeing sunrise/set is far more likely than in the middle latitudes. I have spent a month at sea in the northern and southern waters and never saw actual sunrise/set. (I was on the 4x8 watches so I was always up there).
We even call those clouds that pop up at the last minute "amplitude clouds"
Given my relatively low HoE of 100 feet (30 M), I can't imagine seeing sunrise/set from an airplane at any safe altitude.
I have even taken observation of both the LL and UL of the sun at sunset during one of those perfect "green flash" nights. I was off by over 4' of arc even using the T/P correction.
I don't think it's a reliable method of navigation, but it might work if I was in a lifeboat without any other means of position fixing.
Jeremy
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