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"Vette ... instructed the Cessna to point directly at the setting sun. He did the same, and noted the difference in heading between the aircraft as four degrees
by matt_morgan 8y ago
"Vette ... instructed the Cessna to point directly at the setting sun. He did the same, and noted the difference in heading between the aircraft as four degrees. After making an allowance for the differing altitudes of the aircraft, the difference in sunset times between the aircraft and Norfolk Island was also noted. This data allowed the crew to calculate that the Cessna must be southwest of the DC-10 by about 400 nautical miles."
A story for your kids when they think they'll never have to understand this math stuff, since computers do it for them.
- ceejayoz 8y agoThat said, the kids might point out that most pilots these days will have a GPS in the plane, as well as a backup iPad with Foreflight. Especially if they're doing a cross-Pacific ferry flight.
- sangnoir 8y agoThe Cessna got lost because its direction finder was broken without pilots knowledge, and the other plane with backup equipment crashed en route. A future retelling of the same story would be "While boarding, the ipad fell onto the runway, cracking the screen and damaging the digitiser. The GPS then malfunctioned"
- daeken 8y agoUnderstanding the math and doing the calculations are two different things. Most kids rail against math because they don't see a practical application, not that it's being done for them; everyone knows that in the real world, the vast majority of non-trivial math is done by computers.
- refurb 8y agoIf I were a math teacher, it's stories just like this that I would use during a lesson. It has the added bonus it's true and very compelling. The kids would be riveted! I know I was.