Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Guest jahman

Sextant for FSX

Recommended Posts

Guest jahman

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest jahman
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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...