When I did my Gold Distance/Diamond Goal triangle out of TSA (Dallas,
Ft. Worth area), it was during the Yellowstone fire. Flight visibility
was probably less than 5 miles and altitude AGL was not that great,
either, nor did I have a GPS. I simply headed west (the direction
between the runway and the clubhouse) until I found the highway leading
to my first turn point and then, using the map to pinpoint my location
by ground reference, flew to the first turn point. I think I used the
compass to set a general heading towards the second turn point and then
used the map again to keep track of my position. There are enough
ground references in north central Texas to navigate by. Not so much in
the high plains of New Mexico. Without the mountains, I'd actually have
to use a compass to find my way back home!

On 10/30/2015 9:26 AM, wrote:
I was having fun with my comment about counting the GPS gadgets. Agreed that the iPhone uses GPS and GLONASS. I know that's not true with all devices; does anyone know if the receivers used for our soaring-specific stuff do?

That said, I did read that one chip company conducting tests last year when the entire GLONASS system went down for 11 hours reported that one of their receivers that tracked both systems "wandered significantly in its position reports" during that outage.

As for mountain peaks, you guys need to fly in the east and midwest where, on many days in the summer, you couldn't see peaks more than a few miles away in the haze even if they did rise from the cornfields and pastures.

I don't use my vertical card compass much anymore and probably wouldn't miss it much if it were gone. But it's nice to have on those occasions when, under stress, I prefer an AOGUIRCE (Always On Graphical User Interface Reciprocal Calculator Engine).

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.

--
Dan, 5J