Amelia

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bullfox
Technical Sergeant
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Joined: 24 Dec 2004, 14:50

Amelia

Post by bullfox »

The recent "discovery" of a picture of Amelia Earhart has been debunked by the revelation that the picture in question was actually published in 1935, two years before her final flight. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/20 ... nutes.html

I have read that on earlier legs of her round the world flight she consistently made land fall North of her intended destination.

This has led me to a question which I hope someone more knowledgeable can answer. If one is following a compass course, and if the compass is on the center line of the airplane, then from the left seat one would have to correct for the offset light of sight to the compass. What would failure to correct for the offset do to the course? Would it wind up south or north of the intended destination?
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spork
Staff Sergeant
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Joined: 18 May 2014, 00:33

Re: Amelia

Post by spork »

bullfox wrote:The recent "discovery" of a picture of Amelia Earhart has been debunked by the revelation that the picture in question was actually published in 1935, two years before her final flight. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/20 ... nutes.html

I have read that on earlier legs of her round the world flight she consistently made land fall North of her intended destination.

This has led me to a question which I hope someone more knowledgeable can answer. If one is following a compass course, and if the compass is on the center line of the airplane, then from the left seat one would have to correct for the offset light of sight to the compass. What would failure to correct for the offset do to the course? Would it wind up south or north of the intended destination?
From the left seat the needle would be offset to the right, causing you to turn left. Over the course of a trans-ocean flight I could see that causing small problems perhaps. But she also had a Navigator who used a sextant to get their location so I'd imagine he would be adjusting their course pretty regularly.
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bullfox
Technical Sergeant
Posts: 898
Joined: 24 Dec 2004, 14:50

Re: Amelia

Post by bullfox »

The one book I have read on her round the world flight did say that on earlier legs of the flight she did arrive to the north of the intended destination which on a west to east flight would be to the left.
Ryzen 7 5800X3D liquid cooled, OC to 4.5 ghz, Radeon XFX 6900XT Black edition, 2 tb M2 drive, 32 gb ddr4 ram, Asus Hero Crosshair VIII mother board, and some other stuff I forget exactly what.

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Killratio
A2A Spitfire Crew Chief
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Re: Amelia

Post by Killratio »

Parrallax error is present in any gauge that is off centre... a large part of the reason that the "six pack" is mounted close together and straight in front of the pilot... and adjusting for it becomes automatic (or should!)

The aircraft tracking a different course to that indicated/intended can be due to wind drift, out of trim condition, pilot leaning on one rudder pedal more than the other or a host of other reasons. 1 Degree over 60 miles will take you 1 mile off target.
So on a 600 mile leg... 10 miles per degree.

If rough weather, if an inattentive pilot, if an unwell pilot, if distracted, if careless... there is a large chance of significant error. These reasons are why you check your position visually (under VFR) every ten minutes or so. Now over the ocean, if no landmass, this is problematic.

If relying completely on Celestial Navigation in a vibrating, noisy aircraft, under pressure and needing time for the Navigator to confirm that you HAVE accurately flown his plotted course...well, I'm surprised more of them didn't disappear without trace.

Oh..and Amelia did not disappear... I have it on good authority that there are at least 15-20 of her buried in grease paper near an airport in Burma.. :roll:
<Sent from my 1988 Sony Walkman with Dolby Noise Reduction and 24" earphone cord extension>


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