A Secondary Saga Southbound Sextant Adventure .. "Seeking Sally"

2 stops ... SAWD/SAWH/SCRM

Possible personal time constraints ... you guys know Murphy as good as I do ... have made me rethink the flight plan.

Although we will be carrying enough fuel to make it to Isla Rey Jorge, we will fly by way of Ushuaia, Argentina (SAWH) ... in case we get a "visit".



I have concluded that except for initial planning, I would recommend FSNav (or whatever you are using) be turned off completely or stripped of any info displays except airport locations ... no Navaids ... no aircraft signature and no plan ... not even a straight line .... unless ......




On a clean FSNav screen right click and add to FP the departure airport, then do the same for the arrival airport ... that will draw a straight line ... click on the FSNav screen "Plan/Calculate auto route" ... make sure to uncheck everything except "Insert Fix... " change plan type to from Navaid to Navaid and hit okay.


That will "bend" the straight line to conform to the Great Circle by setting up spaced waypoints along the route for heading adjustments as well as leaving the end of climb/beginning of descent marks in place.


I will use this to either make hand written notes as to the values of the fixes along the route and let them be your assumed position values for shots along the way ... then hit Plan New to clear the screen ... or, being completely honest and switching off the aircraft signature, you can have the values in a chronological list in the upper right hand corner of the screen listed as ... fix 01, fix 02 and so on.


View attachment 46491


So for this flight I have some better educated guesses as to were I should be, at certain times along the flight path, to use with the online screen Data Tables displayed on a second computer (old laptop).


For the 22 Aug 1941 at 0800 UTC with the assumed position at SAWD it looks like we can use Planets ... Mars, Jupiter and Saturn ... cool!


I'll take a shot here ... then after I'm established on what I believe to be course heading we will use the same 70 nm intervals as described in the FSnav route ... I will have to fly "spot on" with the values in the DC-3 aircraft profile in FSnav or it will get out of whack ... if this happens and to what degree it happens I hope will be reflected in my readings and subsequent plotting on the sextant chart.
 
Sally found alive ... all's well.

Okay ....


Gettin' this stuff sweep up in one corner anyway.

The flight to Ushuaia was going so well I just waved when I went by at 10000'.

Fuel check was good so I just turned to 137 degrees and kept gettin' up!



Here's what I did different this flight:

Set out assumed positions closer to my own.

Flew at night (beginning) to make use of the stars ... turned out to be Planets.

Had timed intervals that were very close to actual times for the flight.



Even though this was a piece of cake flight I'm real happy with the results my sextant endeavors and was confident enough to bring it all the way down to Isla Rey Jorge ... very cool!


Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were the celestial references for the flight until the Sun came up.


Got a little ahead of things and stayed a little right of plan but very close at each series of shots ... once the ADF found the signal at 75 nm's out I closed up the sextant ... good feeling to have arrived after flying over water in the dark most of the way.


A few shots of my shots ...



At SAWD ready to takeoff:


View attachment 46513


After climb out ... about half hour into the flight:


View attachment 46514



Good one here ... got the timing better:



View attachment 46515




Every other fix on the Nav plan was 140 nm apart so that made the timing even easier as that is normal cruise for me and there was no wind.



Here's one I shot with SAWD's coordinates to see how far away I was so I could judge turning to SCRM instead of landing:



View attachment 46516



Still plenty dark ... I wanted to use the airport at SAWH as my waypoint ... thought I wouldn't be able to see it at night, but it showed good enough.



View attachment 46517




This shot after heading was established to SCRM:



View attachment 46518




Sun peeking up, but too early to use for a shot:



View attachment 46519




My only Sun shot:


View attachment 46520






NDB took over at this point ... it was at the airport.



This went a lot better than any exercise so far, but it was using the sextant to follow the flight and not lead it.



That will be a whole different can-o-worms I'll get into on my return .... real weather will reek more havoc yet.



Havin' a Ball!!
 
cputters said:
Nice one Salt, looks like you nailed it. :)

Love the sunrise shot. That's a keeper!
Click to expand...


Thanks mate! ... Dil and teson1 are really pumping it out here ... wish more folks would jump in.


I have to confess that I've had some excellent outside help too ... and made a trip to the library.


Keep swinging with both arms till it gets dark or the cops show up ... :jump:
 
Very nice documented flight Salt. :applause:

There's great satisfication when flying with a sextant!

No GPS, radios, or NAVAIDs............It dosn't matter, no batteries required!

I like your flight plan in FSNav. I just got mine back off my old HD. I missed it when needing to do all those calculations by hand.





Just a thought:

I haven't used this on my flights so far, since they've all been rather short...............however; on long flights like that one......

We can space the LOPs at 1 hour intervals.... in your case, on this last flight, at 160nm

according to my E6-B

at 10,000' with no wind and an OAT of C 0degrees. (static conditions)
IAS140kts=TAS160kts=GS161kts at FL100

Then set ETE in FSNAV to cumulative instead of WP to WP.

Edit: Example Fred Noonan on flight from Natal to Dakar
http://sites.google.com/site/fredienoonan/discussions/navigation-to-dakar
click on "chart 1" in about the 6th paragraph or at the bottom of the page.

It's worth noting that FN spaced his 1 hour intervals at 150 statue miles apart.
That means that the Electra averaged 150 statue MPH 130 kts.
I set up a flight plan in FSNav and set cruise speed at 115kts at 8000'
That gave me 130nm spaced LOPs and in FSNav it worked out perfectly.
The last fix point in FSNav is reading 11 hours 4 minutes.
I was suprised to discover that the Amelia Earhat's Electra was that slow.

Here is the same Flight plan in FSNav:

View attachment 46526




It would be fun to reenact this flight sometime......when we have time. :) a lot of it.


I can now print out the map and flight plan and mark the corrections as I go with the following.

From the USNO site: Dead Reckoning Position (DR).
The computation of the position of a ship or an airplane without the use of celestial sightings or electronic aids. Position is computed instead from the position last determined, the compass course followed, and the rate of movement.
Estimated Position (EP)
When the DR position is corrected for estimated drift it will be called the estimated position and will be recorded on the chart or plotting sheet and marked "EP" with the time written next to it.
Assumed Position (AP)
To simplify the calculations an assumed position in the vicinity of the DR or EP may be used, by rounding off the latitude and longitude to a whole number of degrees or to the nearest halfdegree to simplify the entry into a calculator.


The next step is that we're going to use the "WC hot button", on the sextant. for our wind corrections. It requires exactly 1 hour interval readings to work properly.

No doubt you're ready for that....




Awesome flight! :jump:


dil

PS: I downloaded and set up TS so we can get together on flight on the way back.
Perhaps we can get a group together for a nice flight leg back north.
 
Just a thought

Interesting how small the world has gotten for me in the last year ... I had been all over it at different times with online events and the butt-kickin' RTW's since 2005.

Here we are in Antarctica ... my around the world solo attempt paused in Curacao ... and a mate "hung" in New Zealand poised to make the South Pacific Odyssey to South America ...

I don't tell names and tales but his initials are Gunter (teson1) ....

Might be pushing things a bit .... and I would like to close my around the world gig, BUT ... what about running across and picking him up ... give him an escort back across to South America .... then home.

Need to talk to you know who too I reckon ... don't tell him I told ya. :wiggle:



Just a thought ...



I know what you're thinking, but there's always a way .... http://www.flightsim.com/file.php?cm=SEARCH1&fsec=0&fname=C47_5TK.ZIP

Basically doubles the DC-3's range ... doubles.
 
Alone again

Strange turn of events as I arrive with the "booty" for the "booty" (Sally) ... I'm informed that she's gone ... :icon_eek: ... uh, What?


Yep ... she's okay just like we told ya, but she's not here ... that was all a hoax.

She changed her name and hair color back in Argentina and is hanging with another one of Miss Nellie's pilots that's down here somewhere ... Oh!

Yep ... Carmen is what she's callin' herself now .... oh well ... C'est la vie!
 
salt_air said:
Strange turn of events as I arrive with the "booty" for the "booty" (Sally) ... I'm informed that she's gone ... :icon_eek: ... uh, What?


Yep ... she's okay just like we told ya, but she's not here ... that was all a hoax.

She changed her name and hair color back in Argentina and is hanging with another one of Miss Nellie's pilots that's down here somewhere ... Oh!

Yep ... Carmen is what she's callin' herself now .... oh well ... C'est la vie!
Click to expand...

:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: No No No NO!

You had me going there for a minute so I went back an checked my log book.!

June 27, 2001
I literally hired Carmen off the srteet in Bucaramanga, Columbia......

No!!, not what you're thinkin
icon26.gif



She'd heard some clown ran out of fuel up on the mountain and came in off the bus with a gas empty can.

It's written here in my log.

I'd written a detailed flight report to headquarters explaining my bending of the landing gears and some other parts.

Bucaramanga, Columbia
To explain the copilot:
Sometimes, along with bad fortune comes good fortune. While purchasing gas tofly off the mountain I met a young voluptuous, raven haired, Columbian, pilot named Carman who just happened to be out of work.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
June 30, 2001
Salt
Clouds, clouds, and more clouds ... the forced go-aroundwas more stressful than the original approach.

If seat cushions could talk ....

Sally! .. locate the heart medicine and bring it to the cockpit before we takeoff please.

WOW!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yeah, so evidently, your gal Sal was still taken good care of you two days after I'd hired Carmen.
icon22.gif



I think I saw her with these guys up in a quaint little bar in Chile.

I can't remember exactly where, but they weren't talking much....it was almost like they had something to hide...real stand offish if you know what I mean?................... pilots are usually fulll of flying stories.

I know it was sometime early or mid July! Carmen wasn't with me at the time. She had a family emergency and had to hang back for a couple flights.


These are the two pilots I saw at the bar. Their plane was in a hanger and an artist was up on a ladder painting this on the side.

If you find the artist who drew this he can verify it.
icon23.gif


:wiggle:
 
Northward ...

All but one have finished the CC AA Event ... just us down here .... and it's too cold to get comfortable.


Making plans for Curacao ... looking at the Falklands and then straight up through the flatlands of South America ... also looking at island hoping along the West Coast up to the Galapagos Islands then across .... like the overland route the best so far.


Mix up NDB's and sextant navigation ... it's quite a hike ... packing and doing some repairs ... looking for fuel too.





Duennas and as much online as possible .... :wiggle: ... DC-3's (?)
 
LOL

You're really not in a hurry to get home. :icon_lol:

I'd be delighted to have you with me !, However I fear company would be short-lived... I just have another rythm than you. Even if you made the trip here you'd most likely just leave me behind quickly. Though I'd try to do my best to get a few legs in with you.
And you could guide me across the pacific with the sextant. ;)

salt_air said:
Interesting how small the world has gotten for me in the last year ... I had been all over it at different times with online events and the butt-kickin' RTW's since 2005.

Here we are in Antarctica ... my around the world solo attempt paused in Curacao ... and a mate "hung" in New Zealand poised to make the South Pacific Odyssey to South America ...

I don't tell names and tales but his initials are Gunter (teson1) ....

Might be pushing things a bit .... and I would like to close my around the world gig, BUT ... what about running across and picking him up ... give him an escort back across to South America .... then home.

Need to talk to you know who too I reckon ... don't tell him I told ya. :wiggle:



Just a thought ...



I know what you're thinking, but there's always a way .... http://www.flightsim.com/file.php?cm=SEARCH1&fsec=0&fname=C47_5TK.ZIP

Basically doubles the DC-3's range ... doubles.
Click to expand...
 
I'm off in the same direction different route.

Some months ago a group including Gunter, Jim Robinson, elmerfudd, Viper Pilot, and myself had a lenthly discussion about the last Amelia Earhart Lae - Howland Island route. After years of reading and researching, I've come up with my own new revolutionary theory and hypothises of exactly what hapened. Why not? Countless others have including spy stories, TIGHAR's theory, Gary LaPook's LOP argument with TIGHAR, etc. all with various conclusions. Everyone agrees on only one fact. That is that they didn't make it, well at least to Howland.

But that's another long story. :icon_lol:


I was considering the Easter Island -French Polynesia-Marshal Islands route back to Lae, but have decided to try something new.

Since I'm down here a flight from Isal Rey Jorge (SCRM) to Palmer Station (NZOB) and on to Mcmurdo Station (NZDW).

I think it'll be interesting navigating with magnetic variatons and deviations of 145 degrees.
 
salt_air said:
Hi Gunter,
No trouble getting to it by clicking on the link you posted here.
Have you tried drop kicking the computer tower? .... say down four or five flights of stairs.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the confirmation. Strange. I'll give the guy a few smacks.

Although you're getting more expert than me, and have more experience, in sextant navigation at this point, a few further comments on earlier posts nevertheless.

salt_air said:
Still drawing a blank when planning a new or different flight (one that has no examples) as to how best to utilize the sextant.
Click to expand...

Sextant should always be a supplement to dead reckoning navigation.
Check how much you've been blown off course, or delayed/ahead of flight plan.
In any way, IMO the Sextant should be used together with a map. I use Google Earth, which is perfect as it allows to draw markers and lines, and measure headings and distances like on a paper map.

At night shots of 2-3 stars can obviously give you a GPS-like position, i.e. a known position from which new course to destination can be determined by plotting on a map.
Difference between assumed position and fix can also be used to estimate average wind (direction and speed) that has been acting since the last fix, for E6-B calculations.
All this within the accuracy of sextant shots, namely about +/-10 nm.

For sun shots, when just a single LOP will be available, just ask yourself how to make best use of the information that that single line provides.

Two situations are particularly easy to interpret:

1. Speed LOP: If the sun is dead ahead or behind (Azimuth = TC or TC + 180°) the sun shot shows you how far advanced along your course you are, and whether you lag behind or are ahead of the flight plan. Permits a check on speed and ETA.
However no information on lateral displacement from desired course.

2. Course LOP: If the sun is at right angle to the desired track (Azimuth Zn = TC +/- 90°) the sun shot tells you whether and how far you're right or left of desired course.

3. If the sun is at intermediary positions, the information is not as clear cut, and pulling out usable information requires some judgement.

See the analysis from our flight to NZ:
http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showt......-the-Pacific-Islands&p=1572248#post1572248
After the shot at 22:13Z it was not clear whether I was left or right of track.
However, after the next shot at 23:20 it was clear that I had to be right of track, and ahead of flight plan (though I didn't act on this realisation - still had to learn to trust the sextant ...).

If you're free to select departure time of the flight as function when it best suits sextant navigation, and at what time you need the most reliable information (often when close to reaching destination).
Two examples:

1. Departure time for our flight to NZ flight was chosen so that I could be flying on a course line when arriving some way from the airport (if I'd have managed to stay on track...).
I'd have known at that point how far right or left of desired course I'd have been, return to the course line and just follow the sun LOP to the airport.
Didn't work out that way, but that's due to inexperience.

2. AE/FN flight to Howland island was timed that they reach Howland a little after sun rise. This would have allowed them to have exact position (fixes) throughout the night by star shots, and fly to Howland from the last star fix for a minimum distance by dead reckoning and later along a sun line to land with daylight.

salt_air said:
Understood Sir ... all but the 3 shots theory ... what else needs to be input besides the az values??
Click to expand...

Well, seeing your successes in navigation, I guess you've figured that out by now.
Just put any AZ you like. The sextant doesn't care whether in the real world there's a star in the direction defined by Hc/Zn... Not completely realistic, but way less "cheating" than shift-Z, and the fix provides the same information, namely Lat/Lon.
 
Now that you mention it ... where is Jim Robinson??

I'll have a look .... considered going that way home out of New Zealand (reverse) then up through S. America, but opted for the Pan Am Clipper Route up through the Solomon's ... Wake ... Midway ... Honolulu ... San Francisco.

Those were some really long healthy legs that would have been great for sextant navigation, but I hadn't quite picked it up at that time and copped out using a mix of DR and a device that Pan Am used and was modeled pretty well called a high frequency automatic direction finder.

The HF ADF was stupid simple to operate ... actually an FS98 gauge that I was able to surgically insert with no conflicts ... and had unbelievable range ... lazy man's nav tool.

Pan Am actually had their own system of towers, transmitters and receivers that they put in place at each Sea Base along the route and in their aircraft.

They used them, but mention was made in my research that they backed up everything with sextant readings when weather allowed ... the B314 Clippers had a perch for the navigator that had a bubble canopy (through the top of the wing) for him to have total periphery to take celestial shots during flights.

Coincidentally at that same time this fine bunch of event organizers (SOH) came up with a "must fly" event (for me) in the Solomon's, New Guinea and the Philippines ... very close to my route ... just like this CC AA event.





Always had a special place in my heart for Amelia Earhart ever since I first heard of her ... a natural progression of attractions I'm sure a lot of the rest of you share ... Hey, if you loved aviation as a boy, then women, like Amelia, as you got older ... it's an easy association to make.

Then there's the whole unsolved mystery thing ....


There's some real good scenery, documentation with maps and chartage as well as a very nice Lockheed Electra put out that would make replicating the flight in MSFS a lot of fun.





I do already have a couple of irons in the fire that are getting a little long in the tooth .... maybe I should head North, but this new adventure does sound good.


Going to drag out the "Navigator" and run some numbers on real world time, plus I have a forum to try to jump start on another website.

Ever try to start a seized up engine with jumper cables?? ... LMBO.
 
Gunter,


I wish we had been this far along in our studies when we attempted the crossing from Hobart to NZ.

Even with out the benefit of a second or better yet third LOP ... AND ... the crazy winds ... we could have been right on the money, as far as position ... not sure about time or if it would have really mattered ... when we hit the coast.




I may appear to have gained some knowledge of this type of navigation (and I certainly have ... thanks to everyone) but don't discount yourself, as I still copy and paste to notepad all that you guys, have written that is new info or conclusive comments on trips completed with play by play notes.



[Side Note]
At some point (may as well be now) I am both pleased and honored to thank Dave Bitzer ... the Father of this gauge setup for MSFS ... he has contributed equal amounts towards my advance ... I am and will remain very grateful to all of you as well as Kevin Moore and the guys here at SOH for hosting and to various degrees putting up with us.

If anyone has the least bit of interest in the use of the Dave's Bubble Sextant, then this thread has become the single best source of instruction on the planet ... priceless.





I'm not writing anything at this point, just following along and making comments as I go .... a huge differential that puts you still out in front of me.






We will have to make another "trip" soon .... should be quite an enjoyable flight.
 
Gunter and salt


Good points!

I second the thanks to Dave. He's always been helpful with any questions I've had in the past. Also Mark Beaumont, Guy Goddard, Mark Hilliard, Norman Hancock, Jim Daigneau, Allan Greene, and Charles Wood, and all others who helped create and beta test the additional graphical chart. :medals:

I just can't imagine the talent and knowledge that's gone into the creation of this absolutley amazing sextant gauge.:applause:

And of course Kevin Moore and the people here at SOH for their support and cooperation. :medals:



Ice Station to Ice Staion.

Since I'll be flying the C47 I've laid out a flight plan and spaced the LOPs 160nm apart. That's the distance that's close to 1 hour intervals. Given the range of the 4 tank C-47 we should have plenty of fuel for the +12 hour flight.

The flight will be mostly at night since at high noon the suns still beneath the horizon at a latitude of S83 degrees.

I don't know for sure when I'll get the time to fly it.......looks like Sunday at earliest. Could take two or three days to complete.

From what I understant Jim Robinson is deaply involved with scenery design these days and has little time for this kind of flying..... I guess (I nor we nor anyone else, who decides to join me) at Lae will see Jim. I enjoyed his interesting sagas with the sextant on the other site.

Just wanted to say I agree with both of you guys that flying DR and LOPs are the way to go on long flights. Actual navigationors, in the real world, use assummed position as where they are and read the sextant for their prestent AP.

Offsets are OK on short flights to demonistrate the FS sextant, but in reality they're not used.

The questions are.

Where do we think we are from spaced LOPs by using DR?
Where is the sextant telling us we are and how accurate are the readings?
What are the differences?
And how do we correct for them?


I'm by no means an expert. You guys have taught me a a lot and pointed out some important facts for my notes as well.

Some conclusions are that:

Eveything considered, all sextant single (daytime)readings are not created equal in different parts of the world. Of course, at night, three star shots are equally as accurate anywhere.

These flights to the southernmost edge of the earth have been a great experience and learning process. Three reasons come to mind that all sextant readings are not created equal.

1. Near the equator the morning and evening readings of the sun are great indicators of longitude; however near the poles the sun becomes more of a latitude indicator. Latitude positions at the equator, especially on the days near the Equinoxes, would be impossible since the sun's approaching an Hc of near 90 degrees directly overhead. During the daytime hours, latitude is hardest to determine nearer the Equator.

2. When traveling east or west and taking star shots to determine longitude, at a latitude of S83, for example, it’s more important to take the longitude readings (stars near 90or 270) at the exact time on the data charts. The reason is that the longitude meridians are only about 7nm apart that far south. The latitude readings (stars at 0 or 180 degrees), when traveling east or west, will change very little and can be shot before or after the critical longitude shot. Of course, in an aircraft, you're not going to bump into an island in the middle of the night like you might in a sail boat.
During the daytime, longitide is hardest to determing nearer to poles


As Webb Chiles sailed around Cape Horn in "Storm Passage" he always mentions his noon readings (when the Zn of the sun is closest to 0 degrees) when stating his latitude position. As he traveled farther and farther south the sun became the crucial latitude tool. It’s obvious that he doesn’t mention star shots because of the danger of standing out on the deck in the middle of the night in heavy seas in a small sail boat. I seriously a doubt if he could have held a star in the sextant’s mirror since they’re so dim.

Anyone care to join in is welcome.

My knowledge probably still contains as much theory as fact.
icon26.gif


dil
 
I've learned a lot in this thread.
Dil (and all) - Thanks a lot !

Not the least result is I'll go into the pacific crossing with much more confidence in the sextant. :)

Dil,
For your transantarctic flight I just have to share an extract from PHV Weems book Air Navigation (1938). A reference on the topic at its time (and being interested in navigation you may have heard about Weems).

Weems discusses the navigation during Lincoln Ellsworth's 1935 transantarctic flight in detail. From the antarctic peninsula to Byrd's abandoned station Little America (closest nowadays is Mc Murdo). Pretty much what you plan to fly.
(There are also some interesting comments on other outstanding navigation flights - first Atlantic crossings, Post/Gatty, Lindbergh...)

Extract uploaded to Google Docs:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...jAtMmQ5Ny00OWJhLWEzNjItNTc0ODVhNzFmMTJi&hl=fr

Thought that may be of interest to you.

That flight, with its tough navigation challenges, and the excellent documentation, is one I'd like to recreate some day, if I find the 14-20 hours spare time... ;)

But I doubt it will be possible to recreate the sensations of such a flight over such harsh unexplored territory, with no possibility of outside help in case something goes wrong, and with a sextant whose index had slipped and that was indicating wrongly (first sextant shot showing 245 nm off the DR position). Can just imagine the tension...

Btw, everybody has the right to make his own story, some similar problem with the sextant is also my personal theory about the AE/FN disappearance. Unlike Ellsworh AE/FN coudn't land on the icecap and figure out what's wrong... ;)
 
teson1

Thanks for the link, just scanning it I think it's great.
I've read quit a bit of his material but hadn't read the Lincoln Ellsworth's 1935 transantarctic flight.
It's not easy to read but I'll try to get through it.

Gary LaPook reverences Weems quite often in the freddienoonan site: http://sites.google.com/site/fredienoonan/discussions/navigation-to-dakar

He scans bits and pieces of it in his Debunking attempt of other's theories.


I just made a flight from SCRM to Palmer Station NZ0B (NZzeroB) with the sextant.

SCRM to NZ0B Palmer Station
204nm Hop Palmer Station to set up 12 hour flight to McmudoStation.
1940 USAAF C-47 EW 5 Tank 1604 Gal, 9624lb. Cap.
Leaving SCRM 0900AM Local 1200UT 25/08/2011
Weather looks to mostly clear with 42 knot wind 217M/232T

View attachment 46764
Ready to go.



View attachment 46762
Fix1
Celestial Navigation Data for 2011 Aug 25 at12:48:00 UT

ForAssumed Position: Latitude S63 45.0
Longitude W62 00.0
SUN Hc + 6 14.1 Zn49.7
MOON Hc + 535.5 Zn 1.9

View attachment 46763
A great and rare bonus on this flight.
We had both the Sun and the Moon!
It was an absolute surprise.



View attachment 46768
LOP NZ08

Celestial Navigation Data for 2011 Aug 25 at 13:17:00 UT

For Assumed Position: Latitude S64 45.0
Longitude W64 00.0


SUN Hc + 7 14.2 Zn 44.7
MOON Hc + 4 37.5 Zn 357.2





Low lying clouds and fog are not your friend when flying sextant. Even with two good stars to goby. When the visibility is only a quarter of a mile the five mile ball park isn’t much good.
We ran up and down the LOP for an hour and finally spotted the long skating rink called a runway.No NAVAIDS and didn’t have the radios turned anyway.

I was almost certain that I’d flown another Duenna failure, but finally was able to fly the coast and was able to locate the runway. I have no qualms about crashing. Most of the flying I do is high risk ever since I was abducted by aliens once a long time ago........ See avatar!......................(IndependenceDay):icon_lol:
I have pieces of DC-3 scattered all over the 7 continents, several islands, all of the Oceans, and most of the mountain ranges. :icon_lol:


Once we get back to Lae, we'll find a nice establishment and renew our discussion of our individual theories of Amelia Earhart and Freddie's final flight. I have some lenghly material compiled and ready to discuss over a couple of brewskies. :ernae: we'll get salt and a few others (all welcome) to join us!

dil




View attachment 46767 View attachment 46766

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