NavList:

I should like to know how to obtain a copy of the subject article.

I was a member of the R.I.N. for years and finally gave up membership when the price got to be a wee bit to high.

I have an interest in the subject because I share responsibility for a Search and Rescue Course based on the manual method outlined in Volume 2 of the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual (IAMSAR). When a mariner in distress gives a Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) their position, an error factor is assigned to that positon.  That factor, along with others, is used in the computations that lead to developing the Search Area into which a Search and Rescue Unit (SRU) is deployed. A position based on two Radio Direction Finding (RDF) bearings is a doozy to solve; see appendix Q Bowditch 1977 and 1984, volume 1 and the 2017/2019 Bowditch, Chapter 3, volume 2. The Admiralty Manual of Navigation, Chapter 16 and appendices thereto, give a 'quick and dirty' error calculation. But it has deficiencies when contrasted to the 95% ellipse that the Bowditch formulae give. A three bearing solution - well that sounds very interesting (apologies to Arte Johnson!

James F. Campbell
Instructor

U.S. National SAR School