Scudrunners

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I doubt anyone remembers what a KNS 80 was, but ...

Back in the day, before even LORAN, if you had a KNS 80 and
a KR87, you were the coolest kid on the block.

If you know what I'm talking about, you probably shouldn't
hold an aircrew medical  ;D

Ummmmm

Remember programming the chain into those new-fangled LORANs
that didn't have a fucking database or a moving map?

Remember the satisfaction of flying the radio range airway in the twilight zone and then hitting the cone of silence and knowing where you were?


Those were the days.


Oh and before you could even start the test for your IFR rating you had to be able to read the morse code aurally.


... no Andy... not orally.  :)

I learned to hold a heading.

I think the GPS is good. I also like to look at drawings of the ground and pretend to know where I am.

I don't mind someone on the radio saying, "radar identified. Turn to heading xxx and decend to X thousand."

Radio Range Lost Orientation
Aural Null Time, Distance, Homing, and Letdown.
Which, thankfully, I never used in the real world after getting my wings...

When I flew DC-3 it was very basic navigation.
Fly a radial outbound then hold a heading until receiving the radial inbound. We'd map read if the weather allowed.
Later we had LORAN C installed but you could easily be out by 50+ miles.
Just before I left the aircraft had GPS installed - that was a step change in technology.
Now you can install a nice Garmin system in your aircraft.

[quote]hold a heading[/quote]

Indeed.  That's half of navigation, right there.

Youngsters probably won't believe it, but my father flew all over
North America and Europe and North Africa in all sorts of sporty
wx in a T-33 with an ADF for nav.  A pickup truck with straight
wings.

Had no de-ice, so he kept it over 300 knots.

I flew across the US (top to bottom across) a couple years back in a MU-2 that was equipped the way it left the factory in 1983.  I zigzagged down the airways and always kept a finger on the chart where I thought I was just in case I needed to know, which got me plenty of weird looks from my 21 year old copilot.  The whole reason for the trip was to get to the avionics shop.


The flight home was much more direct.  New technology is pretty cool.