I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what Mark Beaumont and Dave Bitzer have created. I am constantly amazed at the creativity of designers, but their sextant is the cat's meow.My father was a navigator in the RCAF and I've always been fascinated by astral navigation. I can't believe that it's now possible to simulate it in flightsim.(Not that I've even tried to use the thing yet -- I've got lots of reading to do before I dare take my Dakota or Connie across the ocean without the GPS to fall back on!)So hats off to you guys. You made my day.BlairCYOW

Yeah. I was just thinking about bubble sextants the night before they posted that thing. I haven't tried it yet, but does it do all the calculations for you? Or do you have to do them yourself?----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

here is the site, by the way..http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=...ont+&CatID=root

Wasn't the sextant traditionally used by day since one of the views is of the sky and the other of the horizon. It's pretty hard to see the horizon at night.

I'm no expert (my father is, he was a B-29 navigator), but I think that's what the bubble level is for. If the sextant is properly leveled, you don't need to shoot the horizon. I know they were used extensively at night, since part of Dad's training involved astronomy and the quick identification of stars and constellations.

Night wasn't the only problem. The higher you get off the ground, the more the horizon angles below you. So the bubble was required regardless of daylight or night.----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

>Yeah. I was just thinking about bubble sextants the night>before they posted that thing. I haven't tried it yet, but>does it do all the calculations for you? Or do you have to do>them yourself?I haven't actually tried getting a true fix yet, which requires plotting a course on your chart. I'll let you know after I've finished flighsim navigation school. ;-)

Hi menThanks for the kind words, Blair, on behalf of Dave and myself. Sorry to be late responding but I am travelling and have not had a chance to check this forum for days.Dave is the guru behind all this; I just hang around in FS workshops waiting to get paid. Hasn't happened yet.Horizon ... yes, that is what the bubble is for. We have simulated both the ability to shoot day and nighttime fixes, as with the real thing.Talking of which, it operates realistically too; so no, it doesn't do the calculations for you, LOL! You'll have to do those yourself, as in the real world, but it's a lot easier with the Internet at your disposal than using sight reduction tables, I can tell you. In fact, we explain how you can do all that from your kneeboard in flight.We include a full manual which should get most people up and running. So install the sextant in a panel that has no DME, no NAV1/NAV2, no GPS and put FSNav away for a while, and see whether you can fly like Blair's Dad had to .....Thanks for your support, all.Mark

Not yet mastered the thing, but with a connie and Glenn miller on the back you get in the mood.. ill keep on trying.Johan[A HREF=http://jdserver.no-ip.com]Personal Server[/A]or..http://62.238.33.10