Pan Am 1969 First Passenger Flight Over North Pole, Part 3

In 1969, Pan Am operated the world's first passenger flight with inertial navigation (INS) over the North Pole. Captain Olaf Abrahamsen commanded Clipper flight 123 from London Heathrow to Seattle. Boeing 707-321C. This is part 3 of 4 (continued).

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• history
• Boeing
• 707

[squadman33]

What is up with the thrrrrees (3) 's !!

[musicalaviator]

Most Civil airliners (ie, boeing 747-400) use a mix of systems including INS for navigation. Integrated via the FMC, 3 INS units, 2 Radio Navigation units and a GPS are "Mixed" to achieve high level of accuracy and comparison. GPS is very accurate for lateral position, but INS is able to determine things GPS cannot, for instance pitch and bank angle. Try flying a plane with GPS but no artificial horizon (att) or Vertical Speed indicator.

[htung1122]

Can anyone make out the name of the control center he is speaking to?

[famospilot]

I flew with this captain once. He was born and raised somewhere in Scandanavia before coming to the United States which explains his slight accent.

[XBoeingCapt]

nice cufflinks! gee, I never wore such a fancy uniform shirt in all my years...33333...

[kasteman1]

Passenger jet airliners are like skyscrapers in the fact that they seem far ahead of their time. We can build a 47-story skyscraper in 1908 but some people still have to take a horse and buggy to get to it. We can build a jet airliner to fly over the North Pole in 1969, yet most families still have a black-and-white TV.

Such a fascinating disparity of technology.

[kasteman1]

Passenger jet airliners are like skyscrapers in the fact that they seem far ahead of their time. We can build a 47-story skyscraper but some people still have to take a horse and buggy to get to it. We can build a jet airliner to fly over the North Pole, yet my family still has a black-and-white TV.

Such a fascinating disparity.

[kasteman1]

Did anyone catch:

"The temperature... minus five-eight"



[EinkOLED]

IRU's on most jets are restricted in terms on where they can fly, particlarly from both poles. Beyond this (72 degrees north etc) and IRS begin to show hard errors due to restrictions imposed on them.

[marcinband]

@squadman33 due to the poor quality of HF radio communications, standard radio technique recommended the "rolling" of the voice in the manner heard here. Interesting technique.

[LateNightCable]

PanAm 123 we didn't quite get those coordinates, could you repeat them, over?

[VIR092]

Oh...The glory of the INS. I miss the INS, it really is alot of fun to learn how to navigate with. After all, it was the early version of the IRS. Today they just use laser gyros instead. Secondly, I have really frown to deeply admire Pan American Airways when a good friend of mine let me in on their fabuous story of the marvelous jorney their company has made in aviation history. Why did they have to go? Thank you very much for this great piece, many thanks indeed. = )