"Mike Kanze" wrote...

Flying the needles reminds me of the A-6A's AN/ASQ-61 Landing Mode program.
Think of an ILS-type approach displayed through VDI symbology and driven by
ever-meandering velocities from the "A's" squirrelly AN/ASN-31 inertial, and
you'll get the idea.

We tried it one VMC night while approaching runway 24 at Whidbey. Until
that experience I never knew that the Earth rotated about Dugualla Bay. g

I've flown a few Landing Modes in the TRAM, but even then they were a bit
squirrelly without good offsets and a good Az- and El-Lock. All Whidbey BNs had
local offsets down pat, but it could get interesting at an unfamiliar field on a
dark night. Some BNs would use the Laser, but that was a no-no in many
places... ;-)