Originally Posted by
ExSp33db1rd
Hence the Gimli Glider. Air Canada 767 en route to the West ran out of fuel and landed dead stick on the disused Gimli runway. ( near Winnipeg )
Have mentioned before - carry a key ring sized navigation computer in my wallet, using it at the supermarket one day, the "work experience" teenager asked me what it was? A circular slide rule, I replied. "What's a Slide Rule" ? was his reply. One could weep.
Not quite apples to apples - on the Gimli Glider they told the crew they had xxxxx kilos of fuel, when in fact they had that many pounds of fuel.
My first semester of college, pocket calculators were just coming online (1973) and outlandishly expensive. Slide rules were the norm - I remember glancing over during a mid-term at another student who was merrily punching numbers into a TI calculator while I was struggling with my slide rule. After hearing my tails of woe, my parents gave my an HP45 calculator for Christmas ($395 - ~$2,000 in today's money - to put that into perspective the previous summer I'd worked in a car dealer making $1.50/hr, and a semester's tuition was a bit over $300!). Most expensive Christmas gift I ever got by far.
Went back to college in January with my fancy new calculator only to have the professors ban using calculators in exams because not all the students could afford one and it was unfair and we all had to use slide rules
.
I still have a couple slide rules around here somewhere - although I'm not sure I could still use one (I was never very proficient at it).