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Pilots use slide rules. Behold the venerable E6B flight computer (aka "Whiz Wheel"): https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/E6B https://secure.wikimedi
by rfreytag 16y ago
Pilots use slide rules. Behold the venerable E6B flight computer (aka "Whiz Wheel"): https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/E6B https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/E6B
Even glider pilots use them to calculate best-speed-to-fly (between thermals): http://www.126association.org/glideslide.htm http://www.126association.org/glideslide.htm It takes a cool head to: navigate, aviate and run the slide rule accurately all the while remaining aloft without an engine and merely a glide ratio of 12:1!
- artmageddon 16y agoPilot here(private pilot, anyway), and yes: we use the E6B a lot when we're up there. It's nice that avionics can give us things like true airspeed and fuel burn rate instantaneously, but that's only as good as your power source is when it's working correctly. An E6B will never suffer from electrical failure.
- fractallyte 16y agoBut it might suffer from illumination failure!
- artmageddon 16y agoThat's why we carry flashlights :)
- bergie 16y agoI also confess to trusting these whiz wheels ("kakkara", we call them in Finnish), a clock, and my thumb on a map way more than I do trust GPSs and glass cockpits.