Airienteering with 13MIKE

by Fred J. Calfior and Douglas W. Miller

AirLeg 28

“The first shipboard takeoff was made by Eugene Ely, who was a pilot for Glenn Curtiss. That occurred on November 14, 1910 at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The Naval cruiser Birmingham was the vessel.”

1) Execute a clockwise arc, remaining at “15.0” DME from LAX VOR

“Now remember! Either read a ground speed ofO to help stay at 15 DME, or always head about 80 to 90 degrees off of the radial you're on or heading to. Then correct for winds as you see the drift of your DME indicator.”

2) When crossing the LAX VOR “054” radial, descend to “2000” feet

“Taking off from a vessel wasn't good enough to satisfy the drive for firsts to Eugene Ely. So two months later, he made the first landing on a naval vessel, the USS Pennsylvania! His Curtiss biplane was dragged to a halt by sandbags attached to each end of ropes stretched across the wooden flight deck, so that they were picked up by hooks under the aircraft's landing gear! Sounds like today's arrestor gear principle, and it is!”

3) Go to AirLeg 88

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