rudestuff,
I'm still not talking about just the one word.
(Although if you are that concerned about the spelling, according to Google, it's: wherewithal.) When I said 'the whole lot', I meant:
Originally Posted by
rudestuff
If I got in an aircraft as a passenger and saw the pilot spining the chart around so that his/her track was face up - i'd be quite worried!
If someone needs to actually spin a chart around and orientate it in order to read it - can they really read a map at all? Teaching kids to read a map on dartmoor and doing it that way is one thing - but lacking the mental wherewithall to imagine yourself "as a little plane on the map" and yet be able to fly a complicated machine is surprising.
And what does that do for situational awareness?
Also, do you have to unclip your chart and turn it every time you make a turn?!
I find it daft that you should disparage an accepted and proven method of map reading (apparently just because you use a different method.)
The fact that you would be 'quite worried' if a pilot orientated a map is (IMHO) plainly daft. Or that you think that navigating over Dartmoor is actually any different to navigating through the air. The basic principles are exactly the same - only the speed (and the effect of the wind) is any different.
If you must know, orientating a chart can actually help a student develop 'situational awareness'. Why? Because what they are seeing on the chart (ie town x on the left of track, river y on the right of track) is what they should be seeing out of the window.
And you ask 'do you have to unclip your chart'? Unclip from what exactly? Are you assuming that everybody flies with a chart clipped to a kneeboard? Because not many pro pilots that I know do...
Now looking at the posts above, it would appear that 'north up' is the preferred method from this very small sample group. But that's not to say that the other method is 'worrying', is it? If it has any bearing on matters, the moving map gps in every aircraft that I have flown (that has one, of course) has always been set to 'track up'. I can only surmise from this that my colleagues also subscribe to the 'track up' (or orientate your chart) method.
OK?
