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My grandfather was working with Stanisław Skarżyński, who was preparing for his first crossing of the Atlantic in a lightweight airplane (RWD-5bis, 450kg empty
by jwr 3y ago
My grandfather was working with Stanisław Skarżyński, who was preparing for his first crossing of the Atlantic in a lightweight airplane (RWD-5bis, 450kg empty weight) in 1933.
They initially mounted two compasses in the cockpit, but Skarżyński taped one of them over so that it wasn't visible, saying wisely that if one fails, he will have no idea which one is correct.
- zero_k 3y agoThat's a cool story! Would have loved to have heard more about that :)
- jefftk 3y ago> if one fails, he will have no idea which one is correct Depends how it fails! For example, say, when you change direction one turns and the other doesn't.
- cutemonster 3y agoCouldn't he bring his own 3rd? Compasses aren't heavy?
- jwr 3y ago…or a 4th and a 5th, and have voting rounds — an idea explored by Stanisław Lem in "Golem XIV", where a parliament of machines voted :-)