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Nostalgic for the Whiz Wheel?


Garfly

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There's an app for that (among other things):

 

 

 

https://ipadpilotnews.com/2020/08/three-simple-apps-for-pilots-to-try/?

 

The Pro version costs $6. Worth it I'd say, even for a play, because the ads are horrendous these days.

 

 

 

 

E6B-whiz-wheel-app.thumb.jpg.c72b34cbdea2441cff9be80295c5a449.jpg

Edited by Garfly
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I've had my Jeppesen whizz wheel for over 45 years. Its batteries never go flat, and its screen doesn't crack if I drop it. It has a carbon track memory with a thumb-driven data eraser. The circular arrangement of its logarithmic scales enable easy input of variable data, resulting in micro-second computation times to a degree of accuracy that ensures accurate navigation and aircraft performance management.

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I gotta say I don’t miss spinning the ‘wheel of fortune’. I do however always carry it in my flight bag and whip it out occasionally for a look. I can’t get over how smart the bloke was who invented it, getting so many sets of tables and computations into one instrument! Genius.

 

I also have had an app for a few years and even used it to cross check the EFB when planning my last interstate flight. More likely to use the app than the physical instrument these days.

 

Alan

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I have had a Kane 6B computer for over 50 years and don't use it much, mainly as a check to see that Avplan is correct.

I have never known how to use thebottom of the high speed side. The bottom is squared off in horizontal and vertical squares. The instruction booklet doesn't mention how to use it. It may be something to do ith cross wind calculations. Does anyone here know?

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Log tables - yes; Trig tables - yes, but never really got into slide rules until I started using a whizz wheel. Wasn't the slide rule an essential tool in designing the first electronic computer?

 

I still use Tables of Imperial to Metric measurement regularly in the workshop, although now I have this Convert for Windows for the office.

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I have had a Kane 6B computer for over 50 years and don't use it much, mainly as a check to see that Avplan is correct.

I have never known how to use thebottom of the high speed side. The bottom is squared off in horizontal and vertical squares. The instruction booklet doesn't mention how to use it. It may be something to do ith cross wind calculations. Does anyone here know?

 

 

Yes, Yenn, it's used for calculating crosswind components.

 

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I need a new wizzwheel !.

Not aviation but machine-shop My Oldie Vintage 1938 Shetack drill Conversion Chart Wheel Slide Rule, is falling apart, and each time it's used, another piece is left behind.

( Drill letter A is .2340 decimal inch, one 64th below 15/64 s ( so it states ))

SheTackEngineers.thumb.jpg.a1c583a132d89a7f2711fd6abc1e2ffd.jpg ( not in classifieds as doubtful to buy )

 

spacesailor

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That's a job I can do next week during lockdown. I dropped my box of number and letter drills, so I have to sit down with my vernier calipers and measure each one to find what hole to put it back into.

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I certainly remember my prayer wheel because I still have it. It is growing old but is in good condition. It came into my possession in 1954 and was used extensively over the next twelve years to navigate all round Australia and overseas as well. Luckily, it was not used again because I had a break from flying. When I took it up again in 2012 the iPad was all the rage and in particular, AvPlan. I was not sorry to leave that darling contraption at home buried safely in the bottom of a drawer where it could stay warm and cozy. Now I create flight plans to anywhere in Australia in a few minutes without the need for said prayer wheel.

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