Dreamland #264: I would have thought that Capt Collins didn't need any training in that regard. He was an RNZAF flying officer for at least four years, and then he joined TEAL in 1958 - well before INS and even route briefings. In the 1960s he would have been strapping himself into a DC8 at Auckland, heading for places as far away as Honolulu, Singapore and Hong Kong, with nothing but a navigatior, beacons, and stars. He would have had to deal with a myriad of navigation issues and would have had to make numerous difficult approaches, including the now-legendary Checkerboard approach to Kai Tak. If anyone knew the importance of making sure where you are before going below the height of that hill you might hit, it would have been him.