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Old 9th September 2010 | 09:26
  #6 (permalink)  
BEagle
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Joined: May 1999
: ATP+Mil
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From: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Only those destined for the heavy, traditional, navigation roles - VC10, C130, Nimrod were taught astro.
Well, whoever taught astrology to baby VC10K navs back in around 1982 didn't always do a very good job.....

After attempting to fix the aircraft's position whilst stationary on the ground at Akrotiri one autumn evening, one such astrologer eventually plotted the aircraft's position as being 500 nm due east of Moscow.....

A few brandy sours and some calculations on a bar mat a little later soon sorted that out though...

The joys of being told where you might have been some 15 minutes ago....yes, we pilots had such faith in the star-gazing antics of our directional consultants. Whereas only 5 years or so earlier, most V-bomber nav teams were pretty $hit-hot at the dark art. 'Twas said of one plotter, let's call him 'Animal' to preserve his anonymity, "He'd shoot astro taxying, if we'd let him!".
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