Recent content by yknpdlr

Depends on how accurate you care to be. What is your location accuracy tolerance? I doubt those cheapie plastic things will get you very close to any kind of accuracy you might find useful. If you want to be within as close as one nautical mile, your horizon elevation measurement must be...

It does take some practice. You need an accurate timepiece, knowledge of standard stars and how to recognize them, books of pre-calculated numbers, ironically called "sight reduction tables", plus the current edition of the Air Almanac with time and date. There is a list of 51 standard stars...

Do you consider the standby 'Whiskey Compass" as permanently unnecessary in every aircraft as well? If you should lose all electrical and backup power, which way is it to the nearest landing strip?

An old guide once told me to always carry 3 compasses. One as my own favorite primarry, a secondary in case something happens to the primary, and a tertiary to give to some poor soul I encounter who has lost theirs. I actually have given two nicer compasses away, one to a local guy who guided...

A little bit of befuddlement is good for the soul. And for improving your navigation skills. Never fear. When I was much much younger, my dad would take me deer hunting and he had favored spots for me to sit while he went another way to get deer to move to me. Anyway, after I learned his route...

At the time I was in scouts, (1960's) to advance from second to first class rank, a scout had to demonstate a minimm knowledge of a set of more than a few code letters, a bunch more than just SOS. So much more than that has been dumbed down over the years until now.

Did you learn from "Paddle Paul"? -PP

Time flies like an arrow. But fruit flies like a banana. :giggle:

When I was in the Air Force as a KC-135 tanker air refueling navigator, on one of our missions out of Eielson AFB, I was chosen as lead navigator of a winter flight of six other tankers leading as many RC-135 reconnaissance intelligence gathering aircraft. I felt a great responsibility to...

For the five Yukon River races I have been on (both the 440 miler YRQ and 1000 miler Y1K), I planned and plotted the entire route using Google Earth with GPS turn waypoints to transfer to my two Garmin GPS 60csX units used during the race. Many river channels can and do change significantly...

This was my air navigation computer. it is a circular slide rule, among other flight calculation tools. The reverse side is used for wind drift angle calculations. I still have a couple of them with about 2000 flight hours of use on them, Definitely now obsolete as far as I am concerned.

I will never consider a compass as obsolete. it is my primary navigation tool and will remain so, even though at times I do carry and use a GPS ( for SAR incident missions, canoe race navigation on a new complex river route). I consider the journey itself of my backcountry navigation skills...

During the past two winters the extra heavy lake effect snow has defined, my XC skiing, when I have time away from other activities. It focusses on skiing 2 miles into a hunting camp I inherited from my father several years ago in the heart of the Tug Hill Plateau of NYS lake effect snow...

Gordon's comes in several sizes. You only need the 8 oz bottle that will last a very long time with dilution. personally I do not dilute it as wead a 0.5%. There must be some kind of domestic animal farm supply outlet in Alaska. I know for a fact that you have plenty of bugs that you may want...

At Tractor Supply, you can buy an 8 oz bottle of permethrin for $12.99. Was just $9.99 a couple of years ago when I last checked. it is a 10% concentration solution. Compare with how much a 0.5% can of Sawyer costs and how long it lasts. Just mix the Gordons wiith water at a ratio of 19:1 for...