Navigation

Yesterday I had a chance to fly again, it never gets old. It stuck me though as I hurdled through the air two things:

1) I love a world where your only speed limit is the performance of your machine (under 250 kts if your going faster than that we need to talk)
2) Navigation has come a long way.

Picture one, you have your sextant, where a knowledgeable navigator could recon himself a pretty good idea of where he was plus or minus a hectare.

Picture two the Garmin 1000 glass panel in the Cessna. With this one screen I can see where I am within feet, where I am going, air traffic in the area, live updated satellite weather (and radio) including but not limited to lightning, precipitation (see the snow), winds at each 1000 feet of elevation above the ground, exact conditions at every airport in north America, all while … keeping track of my fuel flow temperature in each of the 6 cylinders, oil temp, and well…. You get the idea.

I would say we have come a long way.