Dill52’s Air Cargo-Hauling Adventures and Extravaganza

[PRB]

Bravo Zulu, Dil52!

[salt_air]

Salt_Air
I haven't thought about it exactly.

I just read "Storm Passage" by Webb Chiles that kept me on the edge of my seat for a few days reading. http://inthepresentsea.com/the_actual_site/books.html

I learned an interesting fact from the book that may be of interest to you Salt since I've seen you're digging into Mark and Dave's Sextant Manual as of late.
.

You can take an accurate latitude reading during the day using the sun as long as you take the reading at exactly 12:00 PM (high noon local time) where ever you’re located at the time. That is when the sun is at it highest point above you during any single day. (as long as you can see it) You can find that information here by using Form B. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php using the sun transit time. I did not know that.

I was thinking, since we're this far south (S 24° 51') already, that I’d fly down into the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties, and the Screaming Sixties. (South Latitudes)

Perhaps to SAZS, S C De Bariloche, in the forties, SAWH, Ushuala, located in the Fifties then finally to SCRM, Isla Ray Jorge, Antarctica, in the Sixties to deliver some fresh fruit and vegetables.

Then back up north!

I know you’re busy with employment at his time, but perhaps another side trip?

Anyone interested? If so we can wait until everyone reaches Salta then perhaps kick the idea round over a couple at the pub.

Earlier today at S C De Bariloche, Argintina.
Attachment 43780

Just reading this now Dil .... starting to get intrigued at the whole idea and the "New Mission" has hit a snag anyway.

I suppose I could return to Salta as I'm not all that far out (man) and get up with you (and hopefully a few more blokes) to make this run to the Pole and back.




I'm lining up some more reading ... the Central Library here (Virginia Beach, VA, USA) has been quite helpful ... and I'll be making a realtime trip next week out to the Military Aviation Museum here at 42VA to dip into there archived manuals and what-nots to see if there's something there to help ... could even run into some of the oldtimers with first hand experience that would get a laugh out of waking me up!





I'd be privileged to ride along and pick up a few things as we fly ... obliged is a better word for me to use at this point.

The newer RR_41 flight model (DC-3) has icing worked into it ... they (B&B) did give us a defroster for the windscreen so we can't get in too much trouble.




If we can get a nod from Moses ... I think we could post here .... it is multiplayer related.

We can fly off line and share comments or fly on-line on any number of servers including mine.

I'm in anyway!




BTW: salt_air is Pilot# DC3-1762 over at DC-3 Airways ... along with various other covert responsibilities in this fine community.




Catch ya soon so we can toss back a few and shine this up a little

[Dil52]

Thanks......sounds great salt,

sorry I didn't see this earlier as well. I'm away from my FS computer at this time and will be tied up until the last weekend in July.....

I'd love to work on this with you as you're one of the best at getting things properly organized, know the contacts, and I might even learn how to fly on line. I'm the one who would be privileged, and honored to work with you guys.

I didn’t think I could learn to use this server flying, but love it now.

So far it's been a whole new wonderful experience. This Cargo hauling adventure through the Andes has been a great learning experience and most enjoyable.....especially the camaraderie.

I'm really enjoying reading about how others have managed the same flights.

You wrote: BTW: salt_air is Pilot# DC3-1762 over at DC-3 Airways ... along with various other covert responsibilities in this fine community.

That's pretty neat as I'm number DC3-1787 there.

Dil

[salt_air]

Okay ... let's do this.



I am positive that I'm not the only one out here that would love to know how to apply the bubble sextant to navigation inside MSFS.

It could have been put to good use on any number of previous events both here and at other websites ... the 1934 Mac Robertson Commemorative comes to mind right away ... not to mention the possibilities of it's inclusion for future events

I do not want to impose on this forum's time or space ... even though the timeline we're thinking about is after the official end to the event in progress, there may be another event scheduled or other matters that need to be addressed.

I suppose this could be an impromptu event on it's own .... certainly anyone else that wished to join would be welcomed and encouraged.

Maybe Kevin will read this sometime this week and comment to that with the forum's best interest.




I'm compelled to mention one more thing and that is speaking to your greatly appreciated comment on my organizational skills ... this CC AA event had participants from at least 4 websites that I recognized and the authors were from at least 2.

SOH is The Hub in the community for the finest MSFS events offered .... and has been for years now.

I have enjoyed as many as I could find time to indulge as a participant and have gleaned, borrowed, copied and otherwise "stolen" quite a bit of expertise as an event organizer.




Holler when you get free and we'll throw everything in a funnel and try to make a simple and easy to follow adventure that will be hopefully educational and maybe lightly entertaining.

Bear in mind that I would like this to be a part (rather than a simultaneous side line) to what has evolved into an epic journey around the world (almost a year old now) that was put on hold in Curacao to help Miss Nellie's cause down through the Andes.

I'm anxious to get back there and get home to NAS Weeksville ... (non-default MSFS) US Navy Airship Base in operation during and after WW II just walking distance away from KECG ... but I'll fly to the moon in order to gain working knowledge of Mark and Dave's Bubble Sextant.




Cheers,

[oldpropfan]

Congrats Dil, quite an adventure you had. I haven't gotten into using the sextant yet but after following your flights I may have to see if I can get the hang of it.

Al

[PRB]

This sounds interesting. Sextant usage required? That would make a nice excuse to learn that thing!

[Moses03]

By all means, if you Gents have an idea for a event. Feel free to post it here.

Personally I plan to lie low after finishing the Andes flying. I think Flight 19 is going to lazily fly the Mississippi River.

[salt_air]

Thanks for the input Moses! ... One thread should cover ... we could take turns posting.

Again, I am very excited to put the last piece of the puzzle together for me with Old School Navigation ... but I'm even more anxious to share the how-to's and get this out for average Joe to be able to grasp and add to his skills as well.





Paul - I'm not sure how familiar you guys are with the DC-3 that hits the aircraft folder in FS9 when you install the Radio Range scenery (rr40.zip), but along with the polish (in every aspect) that was missing from the outta the box MSFS model, there are three different panels that are absolutely superb.

There are panels, period correct and specific for 1940 and 1945 as well as a panel with all the bells and whistles you could possibly want including a cooler with all the beverages you can imagine ...

The 1940 panel sports the "latest" navigational equipment ... a low frequency radio receiver (and direction finder) that will pick up audio (Morse Code) signals from the stations included in the scenery instead and in place of the ADF/NDB based Radio Compass.

Since there are no stations down here in "Peronville" there is essentially nothing to aid in navigation but a watch, a compass, a windriftmeter (not Copeland's) and the Bubble Sextant (by Mark Beaumont and Dave Bitzer) that will be of any use at all.

So long story short ... in the aircraft I will be using I will have to learn how to navigate by means of the now famous sextant ... no other choice besides the basic tolls for DR.




That Muddy Waters Adventure sounds like a real treat ... but I should take advantage and get this wrapped up.

Thanks again Moses ... and if there is anyone else that is interested in tackling this facet of historical air navigation please step up and join in.




Cheers,

[PRB]

Yep, very familiar with the Radio Range DC-3. I'll have to read up on sextant usage!

[Dil52]

Hi all,

Arrived back at Salta this morning after taking a bus tour of area.


We visited a lot of historical sites. Can't say enough about the beauty of the Andes.


Thanks for the approval of as well Moses.

Good idea on the single thread Salt.

Great of you to join us Paul and anyone else interested.


I like the idea of the 1940 panel of the DC3 EW RR as well.

I retrofitted a sextant into it this morning.

Attachment 44702

If anyone is interested in adding the sextant I you can use the following settings in the panel cfg to position the sextant icon....I managed add the icon after some hit and miss attempts:

Under the [Window00] gauges list add:

gauge60=BB_sextant!icon, 16,725,19,19

The "16" puts it on the left side of the icon group, the "725" is the top row and the 19, 19 is the size of the icon.

If anyone has read and understands the great tutorial written by Mark and Dave I'd just add some rules thumb:
Summery:
each 1° degree is equal to 60nm on earth.
each 1’ (minute) is equal to 1nm on earth.
each 1” (second) is equal to 88’/26.8224m on earth. NOT PRACTICLE FOR SEXTANT READINGS> The best we can hope for is accurate to within about 5nm.

If perhaps you're using Earth Google and are reading latitude and longitude in degrees and decimal degrees each .1 degree of course is .6nm.

However it must be remembered that:
each 1° line of latitude is equal to 60nm anywhere on earth.
And:
each 1° line of longitude is equal to 60nm only at the equator.
As the latitude increases and decreases toward the poles the longitudinal lines become closer together until, at the poles, it could be one step or one foot or one inch.Looking
When looking at records chart next to sextant we see that the maximum distances for both latitudinal and longitudinal readings is 180nm or 3 degrees or 180 minutes since each 1 degree = 60nm of latitude and 60 nm of longitude (only at the equator).

So to plan a route of 1000nm, example SASA (S24°50' W65°30') to SAZS (S41°10' W71°10'). or approximately from latitude S25° to S41° is 41 - 25 = 16. Take 16 x 60 = 960nm.....(just using even latitude numbers). Keep in mind the route is not purely due south but south west in direction and the magnetic deviation is approx -9.8 degrees approx. So for longitude let's also do some rules of thumb.

In this example, when planning on the map use LOPs of S30, S35 and S41°10' W71°10' (the destination). Since we're heading more SW we take into consideration the longitudinal LINES which are NOT 60 nm.

NOTE: Logic would tell you if longitude = 60nm at the equator then at S45 degrees longitue would be 30nm. LOGIC is WRONG because the earth isn't flat.

Actually, the longitudinal lines at SASA are about 53nm apart and at SAZS they are about 45nm apart. The actual distance from east to west between SASA and SAZS is about 75 miles. We can do rule of thumb on this for LOP or find the exact West longitude of each fix (reading point) i.e. 1/3 and 2/3 of 75nm for each fix.

I have compiled a Sextant 102 course to add to the 101 if anyone is interested in more detailed explantions of using the sextant.

Of course we'll wait unti the great cargo flights have been completed by all.


Cheers,


Dil

[salt_air]

Good News!



Ready to go ... replaced the Kneeboard, ATC, and Map simicons with three that will call up the Sextant, a Sun Compass (negates magnetic variance ... works like a Sundial) and a RCA Goniometer (for later when using the Civil Airways back home ... I'll be able to triangulate while on the "Beam" helps figure distance to target).

Stuffed that in the RR_41 version which models icing (new wing de-ice switch in the overhead panel) and has a little bit better sound for the RR itself.



Attachment 44765Attachment 44766Attachment 44767Attachment 44768



Sextant or bust on this one Dil ... feel like a kid the just started back to school with a fresh number 2 pencil and a 3 ring binder full of simplex paper.

May have a surprise guest look in on us as we fly ... we'll see.

I'd like an order of Sextant 102 whenever you have the time, so I can be "chewing" on it while we wait for the rest to finish.





I'll get another thread started .... and to be clear we plan to hit SAZS, SAWH, and SCRM out of SASA ... the return correct?


This stuff is fun I tell ya!




Oh yeah ... funny thing happened on the way to Rio ... plane was hijacked and Sally's been kidnapped (believed to be headed south), so I have a vested interest in the flight outside of the educational aspect.

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showth...-to-Weeksville


I'll be back in Salta later this morning.

[Dil52]

Sounds good!

Great adventure you're having there. I hope you find Sally and everything turns out OK......perhaps you can sweeten the gas in the kidnapper's tank.

Nice panel additions. Looks like you're more than ready to go.

I took the RR_41 DC3 up for a test run this morning. We headed south out of Salta and as we were climbing I was working on a map for the first leg of the Antarctic flight. When I checked the progress of the flight I found that we'd climbed to over FL210 and the warning was repeating that we'd overheated the cylinder heads. The cowl flaps were in the trailing position so I opened them and proceeded to slowly loose some altitude.

We're headed back to Salta now... hope we didn't do too much damage to the P&W's!!

I don't know if I can post a word document or just copy the Sextant 102 information here in a thread. I don't want to infringe on the purpose of this thread as it is intended to track the cargo adventure. Perhaps a new thread would be in order.

Let me know what do you think?

Dil

PS: I have a special place in my heart for those in Antarctica. As a Ham radio station operator, back in the 70’s and 80’s, I would host phone patches for those who were stationed there. Those were the days before global cellular and satellite communications as we know today. We hams were the sole means for them to contact and talk to their families and loved ones back in the USA.

[salt_air]

I know you can add a txt file ... copy and paste to an empty notepad sheet or possibly just change the file extension to txt ?



Very cool to hear of your Ham Radio experiences ... should be a good trip.



We can move to the new thread anytime you want ....

New Thread: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...-Seeking-Sally

[Dil52]

Sounds great.....thanks salt_air!!!

See you on the new thread.