Wire & Rope entire.mov

[John Balderston]

I took a cut at stitching two images to give a better sense of dimensionality to my postulated fuselage interior.  Attached.

[Ric Gillespie]

BUBBLE OCTANT?

In this image, the ROV camera is inches from the surface it is filming.  The total area visible on the screen is probably smaller than your computer screen.

[Gary LaPook]

BUBBLE OCTANT?

Compare with what the Pioneer octant used by Noonan actually looks like here.

gl

Gary, thanks very much.  I was thinking sextant with bubble/artificial horizon.  I did a quick search of your site - very impressive by the way - but couldn't determine if FN used one.  There is a wealth of information on the TIGHAR website as well as your site - I will check it out.  Thank you!

The only evidence we have as to the type of bubble octant that Noonan had on the flight from Lae to Howland is this receipt for a Pioneer octant that he got from Manning after the Hawaiian crash. Although this was in March, three months prior to departing on the second attempt, it was obviously done in contemplation of it being used on a second attempt otherwise there was no reason to get that octant from Manning. This also indicates that Noonan had no other octant to use or else he wouldn't need Manning's octant. There is no evidence that he carried any other type of octant or sextant on the last flight.

gl

[John Balderston]

In this image, the ROV camera is inches from the surface it is filming.  The total area visible on the screen is probably smaller than your computer screen.

Ok, thanks.  It's taking some mental recalibration but I'm now understanding that my interpretation of the reef slope was off by an order of magnitude - what I thought was 200 feet of slope is actually 20; what I saw as a main landing gear wheel is actually the size of a large button, rope is actually thread or twine, etc.  Still wrapping my head around it but I will get there!   :-[ 

[Tim Mellon]

Ok, thanks.  It's taking some mental recalibration but I'm now understanding that my interpretation of the reef slope was off by an order of magnitude - what I thought was 200 feet of slope is actually 20; what I saw as a main landing gear wheel is actually the size of a large button, rope is actually thread or twine, etc.  Still wrapping my head around it but I will get there!   :-[

Oh, I get it now. We must be looking at the wreck of Mr. Harney's model Electra...

[JNev]

BUBBLE OCTANT?

In this image, the ROV camera is inches from the surface it is filming.  The total area visible on the screen is probably smaller than your computer screen.

Thanks for that clarification, Ric. 

This has been one of the tough realities in all the excitement about what we're 'seeing' here that is hard for those of us who have not been immersed in the ROV environment to get our heads around.  I recall my own excitement over the 'main gear with squiggley' at the beginning of the ROV stills string and your own thought that whatever it was we were seeing was likely only inches in size, not feet.  I appreciate that sobering reminder.

[Ric Gillespie]

About the black "squiggly" stuff.  We found a length of it and videoed it up close during Niku VII.  Somebody aboard KOK recognized it as a type of gasket material commonly used aboard ship and showed me a handful of it.  Clearly the same stuff we saw in the video. Now I wish I had taken time to photograph and document exactly what it is, but at the time it was just "Okay, so we don't need to worry about that."

[Irvine John Donald]

Thanks Ric. And that solves another mystery.

Scale is everything. These videos provide tons of visual clues as to depth etc just by the amount of natural daylight in the scenes but "scale" is the most important element that has to be kept in mind. This has been stated time and again in this forum.

[Tom Swearengen]

kinda like a rope/graphite packing material?

[Ric Gillespie]

kinda like a rope/graphite packing material?

Kinda .. and segmented.  I had never seen anything like it before.

[Tom Swearengen]

not unlike packing material for prop shaft stuffing boxes on ships.?

[Ric Gillespie]

not unlike packing material for prop shaft stuffing boxes on ships.?

I'm the wrong guy to ask about that.

[Tom Swearengen]

Yep---me too

[Gary LaPook]

not unlike packing material for prop shaft stuffing boxes on ships.?

That stuff is square in cross-section, not round. Does this help?

gl

[Bob Lanz]

not unlike packing material for prop shaft stuffing boxes on ships.?

That stuff is square in cross-section, not round. Does this help?

gl

This might help Gary.  You are right.