NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Kollsman averagers
From: Douglas Denny
Date: 2009 Nov 25, 02:12 -0800
From: Douglas Denny
Date: 2009 Nov 25, 02:12 -0800
May I offer a possible explanation? It is only a guess however. The pendulous reference is easier to use than a bubble, being an horizon indicator rather than a circle in which the star is placed. This I believe gives simpler and greater accuracy of observation than a bubble where the observer has to estimate the centre placement of the star in the bubble, and hence would require less time to complete an assessment of the star alignment with the reference. The oscillation period of a large aircraft I would have expected to be within a minute anyway, so anything above one minute is not necessarily going to increase accuracy on this count. The only increase in accuracy would be if there are longer term accelerations present (such as an unwanted inadvertent side-slip) corrected within the time period of observation. The only answer must be ultimately that tests would have been carried out by Kollsman and they probably found little difference in results for the one minute as opposed to two minute observation periods. Douglas Denny. Chichester. England. -- NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList+@fer3.com
