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At 06:32 18/04/2012, Bill B wrote:


>I do not know if cel nav is a requirement for a commercial pilots
>license these days, but I would think a fundamental knowledge of the
>position of heavenly bodies might come in handy for the pilot of any craft.

Hmm. There is a lot of hype about this, mainly centred on a
"disoriented and groggy" pilot who has just woken up, making a call
about what looked like the lights of an oncoming plane, and
considered that there was no time to make further checks about what
else it might be before taking avoiding action.

Let us change the scenario a bit. Let us suppose the plane had been
on autopilot and the human pilot had been on a walk-about amongst the
passengers (as used to happen once upon a time) and came back into
the cockpit to see a bright light dead ahead. Now, we have a pilot
who is awake and alert, being confronted with what he thinks is a
plane on collision course within seconds of impact. What is he to do...?

I would be interested to hear what Gary would think about this one.

Geoffrey

   

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