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

Northbound ... Falkland Islands

We will be taking separate paths, but I'll be watching and reading as you head west.

I'll be taking a flight to the Falkland's ... almost straight North at an average course heading (Great Circle) of 353 degrees.

I want to make the most use the sextant that I can during the journey to Curacao, but I will be using NDB's as well ... especially those at destination and I'll be incorporating real weather back into the mix as well.

I'm going to purposely disregard a zig-zaq NDB only "path" I found and try for a straighter/shorter "path" ... that will take me out of range of many available NDB's.

That is where I plan to use the sextant to "bridge" the gap between signals ... as a monitor of course.

Since the flights won't be sextant dependent there will be no need to optimize time of day for shots ... the exercise will be to learn how to think on my feet and find the best use of the sextant when all else fails or is not accessible.






The stand alone sextant trips will come later in my sim world .... thinking of even some open Ocean going in a little something from FS-Shipyards ... maybe a landable carrier in multiplayer so you guys can come to visit ... BYOB :wiggle:





Alright now a checklist and plan:


12:30 GMT 26 Aug 1941 ... real wx w/updt ... DC3 RR41 ... wing tanks full

Takeoff 13:00 GMT ... track out on IRJ 0360.0 to end of range at 75 NM and grab a sun shot ... ETE 30 min (I'll make a brisk climb out keeping the engines set high, but close to spec settings).


DR to next shot one hour later with new AP of 225 NM out correct as necessary.

Fly another hour DR to next shot with new AP ... corrections as necessary. (over halfway there at 375 NM out).

One more shot an hour later ... probably academic at this point I'll be a little over 100 NM from the islands, but at 10000' should be on the horizon and well pronounced.


Tune to MP at 0380.0 (range 75 NM) and correct course track in to Mount Pleasant.


As I understand it Sun shots in this part of the world won't help much with drift on a N/S path so I'll be using the shots as DME and timing practice.
 
First shot

First shot a little late, but bonus as I could shot the Sun. Moon, and Venus ... Happy Days!


View attachment 46786


Really cool ... it's good to be dead on in the beginning of a trip ... long day when course corrections are constant and never satisfy .... tickled to death with this considering quartering winds ... thirty knots at 233 ... to correct for ... timing was just right too the way it looks.



View attachment 46787



Giddy up!!
 
Second shot

Still good, but (if you have a magnifying glass) you can see I'm a little right of course and a little ahead ... makes sense as the winds are more westerly now and I probably was getting a little better speed across the ground earlier.


View attachment 46792


AZ's aren't as varied so the lines run closer together on the chart ... not as significant as when they are crossing each other at a wider angle .... still usable.
 
Third shot ...

uh ohh ....



View attachment 46797


Got lazy behind the wheel here and drifted off course a bit ... you can equate where the lines intersect on this chart to where you are in real life on the map.


In other words the intersection of the three (blue,green, and red) lines is above and left of the centered green bubble ... so that means that I am ahead and left of course.


Remember reading ... don't remember where ... of suggestion when finding this scenario to turn immediately back to course (or what you think is course) and reshoot to confirm.


I'm not that far off and don't have that much further to go so I'll just make a heading correction that I think will bring the aircraft back on course.




Wow ... I can tell the light's coming on because I'm starting to "sound" like these other guys ... oh boy!




Let's see what happens on the next shot.
 
Last shot

That's better!

View attachment 46804


Turned back into path at a greater angle than I was flying and instead of going slower just took this shot sooner.


Now if the fuel will just hold out .... should pick up the NDB in a few minutes.


I can see the Islands regardless ... not too shabby.




View attachment 46805
 
salt_air


That flight was just about true north. Less than 1 degree longitude change in four hours isn't much this far south.

Good luck finding those small islands.

There's no doubt you can navigate anywhere in the world, with the sextant, at this point in your adventures. As long as it isn't cloudy......or can climb above the ceiling.

Nice flight and documentation. :applause:

See you on the other side of the world! :wavey:

dil
 
Dil52 said:
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.
Click to expand...
Agree it needs some selective reading. ;)
Just skip all the calculations of great circle positions and sextant data. GE/FSNav and USNO site is doing all that for us. :)

Good job (and perseverance) finding the airport in difficult conditions. :salute:
 
I hope you guys are proud of yourselves ... all I did was follow the darn fine instruction you all provided .... Thanks!!


I sure do hope some more folks will pick this up before it disappears into the folds of "Forumland" and the pages that aren't seen anymore.


It has been so stinkin' nice to not have to go back and forth between a hundred different sources to gather info and then try to shove it in a funnel and make some sense of it all.


Everything is covered in one thread .... and then some.


Hats off to Dave Bitzer, Dil52, and teson1 for all of the input to this fantasic collection of Sextant Navigation Tutorials.


I don't think anyone realizes how valuable this is ... and will remain.



Cheers,
 
I think it's a great idea! :salute::wiggle:

The final lesson will be Sextant 103 the Masters Degree. It'll include the built in "W" for figuring WCA caluclator in the graph and using the distance and heading to center feature for DR, EP and AP.


The Ice Stations flight has been planned. We'll probably shove-off, or should I say (slide off), the ice rink they call a RW at NZ0B in the PM tomorrow. When doing run-ups the emergency brake is useless unless positioned back on the snow pack.
 
Go ahead a start it tomorrow with your flight if you want.

I'm on my way back to the mainland at Viedma, Argentina (SAVV) eta 2315 Z




Will post recap with duenna and a few screenies.

Not doing as well .... trouble with Groundspeed and Drift calculations, but it's early.



Make a new thread and title ... I'll piggy back on your (new) thread till I get back to my Solo Flight at TNCC ... then I'll be posting at FlightSim.com on the trip home.
 
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