Salute!
TNX, Galaxy
I was about to point out the use of the early Carousels in the early 747's. So looks like those babies are keeping up with the technology.
I guess that we military folks were two generations ( not one) ahead in the field, as the jet I described was tested in the late 60's and fielded in 1970. Had both a Doppler and an inertial measurement unit, but the nav functions were done by a central computer ( mod of the Apollo LEM doofer). Only problem with the airborne alignment was getting a nav fix to determine present position, then the "system" took it from there and corrected for several things. Drift was about 1 n.m. per hour, so for a thousand mile trip no big deal, and you could do a position update using radar on a known reference to eliminate the "drift".
@ IGh
First heard about "RNAV" in early 70's, and our system was not FAA certified as such. Nevertheless, we would ask ATC go go "inertial direct" to "xxx" and they would request some TACAN cuts along the way and we would provide them, and tell them what our system was showing for course and distance to "xxx". Next call was "cleared inertial direct to "xxx". Longest route I flew non-stop was from Seattle to South Carolina, and was a piece of cake. We could also read out winds, and the Washington Center would often ask us what we were showing at various altitudes as we climbed, heh heh.
Somehow I have not heard from any of the "heavy" pilots here about their experience with various inertial nav systems, and especially the newer ones with GPS integrated with the inertial sensors.
thanks for putting up with this old dinosaur.
Last edited by gums; 6th Jan 2013 at 04:27.