TIGHAR

Amelia Earhart Search Forum => Celestial choir => Topic started by: Dave Patterson on April 03, 2013, 10:39:05 AM

Title: Noonan's octant
Post by: Dave Patterson on April 03, 2013, 10:39:05 AM
If Fredd's octant was dropped, in flight let's say, what would be an expected error that it would be off without him knowing it until it's too late & what part would be most likely damaged ?
Title: Re: Noonan's octant
Post by: Monty Fowler on April 08, 2013, 02:35:15 PM
I would say ... impossible to know the answers to any of that. To quote Afred E. Newman, "What, me worry?"

LTM, who trys not to worry near the end of the day,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 CER
Title: Re: Noonan's octant
Post by: Dave Patterson on April 10, 2013, 09:54:20 AM
So, Nobody has ever dropped one of these, or all the guys that dropped them are dead.
Title: Re: Noonan's octant
Post by: Jeff Carter on April 10, 2013, 12:56:13 PM
So, Nobody has ever dropped one of these, or all the guys that dropped them are dead.

I think there was something about correcting misaligned octant/sextant readings in the old navigation books on LaPook's website ( https://sites.google.com/site/fredienoonan/home ) -- I searched but was not able to find it at the moment.  Maybe someone else can find it.



Title: Re: Noonan's octant
Post by: John Ousterhout on August 23, 2013, 08:59:33 AM
Here's the simple way to verify a dropped Octant is still working: set to zero and look at a star or the horizon.  If the mirror is misaligned it will be obvious and can be corrected in most cases.  This isn't to say that a navigator can fix a bent octant, but at least it's possible to know that it isn't working right.
My old celestial text book (Crawford, 1972) devotes half a chapter to testing for such problems, and methods to adjust it back to normal, without needing any special equipment.  It seems certain to me that Noonan would be familiar with the methods.