Hello!One of the things I really like about FSX is it's GPS: Can get me to anywhere I want.But this means I will always get there, even with the PC unattended, and this makes flying boring!Now I can't turn GPS off and ignore it, because since I don't have the winds aloft forecast I can't really fly by dead reckoning (over the ocean, where navigation is truly challenging.)So why not make a sextant for FSX? It would be a real killer! Consider FSX already incorporates 9,096 (!) stars, Sun and Moon that are properly displayed according to latitute, longitude, time-of-day, date and season.Then try and fly a B-17 from Kadena AFB (RODN) in Japan and actually find Midway Island (PMDY) in the middle of the night! (OK, so you don't have to find the island, just manage to enter the range circle of the Midway ADF for your current altitude. But still quite a challenge!So how agbout a sextant? It would be so much fun to learn how to use!Anybody up to it?Note: I see a simulated bubble sextant was developed for FS2004, see: http://flyawaysimulation.com/article1343.htmlAnybody heard of an update for FSX?Cheers,- jahman.

I have the Beaumont & Bitzer bubble sextant you mention as part of the Plane Design Lancaster for FS9, which I fly very successfully in FSX. I have to say I've never used the sextant, but I printed off the manual and went through the basic functions and it seems to work in FSX. But there may be wrinkles I'm not aware of.

I like this idea Jahman. ...use the sim to learn how to use a sextant :)Danny

I like this idea Jahman. ...use the sim to learn how to use a sextant :)Danny

Indeed, I always wanted to learn how to use a sextant, but either I had to buy an expensive flying thingy or an expensive floating thingy to get the practice. With FSX (a 9,000+ astronomically-correct star catalog!) I get to fly a B-17 accross the Pacific with lots of time to do the math for the navigational fixes (and with FSX crashes and reloads, maybe even buid my own trig tables! ;-)But yeah, It must have been really exciting to navigate via sextant, especially when running into overhead clouds while low on fuel and still out of NDB range.Talking of which, the movie "Amelia" is about to be released...Cheers,- jahman.

I have the Beaumont & Bitzer bubble sextant you mention as part of the Plane Design Lancaster for FS9, which I fly very successfully in FSX. I have to say I've never used the sextant, but I printed off the manual and went through the basic functions and it seems to work in FSX. But there may be wrinkles I'm not aware of.

Thanks for the info, I'm looking into it.Cheers,- jahman.