The Nav on the K was never quite redundant because their Airships never modded the entire fleet with the magic SCNS kit but left a few with the much detested PLGR Litton INS fit. I once watched a Nav plan a Low Level Cat trip on the Electronic Mission Planner (TAMPA,HAMPA,CHAMPS) to the "nth" degree with scores of waypoints. All this was loaded onto the Data Transfer Module (DTM) to be uploaded in the SCNS. When we arrived at the lead frame it was fitted with Litton Plugger. A lot of the Mklll SKE equipped a/c were so kitted. His little face was crestfallen. "Pick the salient features for the first half hour and free nav between them" was the best advice. We still plotted the 2 minute timing markers along the track and spookily we found out that the trip didn't need the thirty odd waypoints we left left out.
Of course the 2 pilots in the J upload all their data and as I have observed, On a major reroute due to weather, the captain was left on a base heading at low level while the co is heads down in the kit punching buttons like crazy. Navs aren't needed but it's nice to have one around when it all turns to *****.
Mission Planner
