Do we really need West and South when we can use negative North and negative East?

  • SendMePhotos
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    2 days ago

    Ah… I love airplanes… To be clear, the issue with this is that magnetic 0 is not the same as true 0. There’s a slight offset that can cause issues. So why not have like… True 0 and magnetic 0. T0 and m0?

    • chillpanzee@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Fun fact… there is an ICAO effort to “get rid” of magnetic headings for runway numbers. I listened to a presentation they did last year, and as much as I went into it thinking it wasn’t needed, I was a convert listening to them.

      Btw, magnetic variation is pretty significant in some places. It’s 13 degrees where I am.

      • SendMePhotos
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        2 days ago

        What’s the new one? I must have missed the presentation. Probably because I wasn’t invited.

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            2 days ago

            I suppose it makes sense but it feels wrong. I’m so used to having and using magnetic but that isn’t a reason to continue doing less efficient things.

            The redundancy aspect is there as when systems would fail (GPS for true), the magnetic redundancy would still come into okay and still work enough to get by.

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Why not?

      Because what happens when your referent changes? Which direction is Mars from Earth? We obviously need a single navigational system that works anywhere in the universe.