Flight into Nowhere. regarding the lost Wackett tragedy.
Apart from not spotting the iron rail..due visiblity or being well before expected eta for intercept time, due to the compass error, he ploughed on.
And the error was caused by; vibrating loose during the journey from Melbourne or some magnetic item interfering. The booklet states there was a reading difference in the cockpit compasses installed...so when he collected the aircraft, either not noted and rectified or the problem developed en route.
Flying on well past expectation of the rail sighting and not being able to return, put the poor guy into some of the worst country imaginable in the central gafa.
The huge search was done twice over the same area. Did anyone think out side the square and extend the block...alas, apparently not. And he wasn't that far from the NE corner. Vale James Knight
In those days compass (heading) clock, map, measuring stick and pencil was all there was.
Not so today. Have a look at the GPS..it says the destination is that way, xxxx miles away, and it will take you x hours and yy mins to get there.. too
easy. Until the power goes off !
Aah do love those paper maps, as one from the old school.
The compass importance just aint what it used to be, with all the alternative techo, of reliability and great accuracy in use today.
Wackett BEC recovered with some difficulty, resides in the Central Australian Air Museum, Alice Springs.