NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: aircraft drift; over wate.r Re: Amelia Earhart's aerial navigation
From: Ken Gebhart
Date: 2009 Nov 19, 21:52 +0100
From: Ken Gebhart
Date: 2009 Nov 19, 21:52 +0100
Seeing whitecaps go by quickly, it is instinctive to align the drift meter with the passage of them, regardless of their intrinsic motion. But in timing their passage to get ground speed, one should use the onset of the whitecap. Ken On Nov 19, 2009, at 8:35 PM, George Huxtable wrote: > As one quite ignorant about air navigation, a few questions come to > my mind. > > I can see the relevance of some sort of drift angle meter when > flying over > land, in establishing ground track direction from relative motion of > landmarks seen passing below. > > But how does that work over the sea? Presumably, one would be seeing > whitecaps on the waves, or white-horses, that will tend to drift > downwind, > as the wave-tops move downwind. Is that speed of motion quite > negligible, > compared with the airspeed of a light aircraft? Is there some way of > allowing for that motion? Or does this just add an additional > uncertainty to > the estimated track-angle of the aircraft? If so, what level of > uncertainty > would that be? > > George. > > contact George Huxtable, at george@hux.me.uk > or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) > or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. > > -- > NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc > Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com > To , email NavList+@fer3.com -- NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList+@fer3.com