YouTube Madness

[Echnaton]

The different datum from the survey and my GPS could have accounted for my reading of not being at the exact location if the state boundaries were just put on the WGS-84 maps by lat and long numbers.

[Sus_pilot]

This issue never occurred to me before.  As a pilot and instrument flight instructor, this has proven to be fascinating.  Digging into it, it appears that the FAA uses WGS84 as the standard, per this document: 

http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/8260.48.pdf

Having everyone on the same standard is clearly critical, as flying an RNAV WAAS approach to the runway (OK, down to 200 feet AGL) in instrument conditions is no time to be a couple of feet off.

[Chew]

This issue never occurred to me before.  As a pilot and instrument flight instructor, this has proven to be fascinating. 

Please tell me you're not a commercial airline pilot!

A lot of nautical charts are in non-WGS datum. Most GPS receivers have multiple datums to choose from but occasionally you come across a chart with a funky datum that is not in the receiver, like the Rome 1950 datum is not in the standard US Navy GPS receiver. Plotting a position requires manually adjusting the GPS position.

[Noldi400]

To add to the confusion, for anyone who had to interact with the US Forest Service - this was true some years ago, anyway - they had their own map coordinate system. If you had a GPS locator (they were new and expensive then) you had to get a lat/long and then do a conversion to get their coordinates.

[Obviousman]

Everthing we use is in WGS84. To be honest, 10 - 15 years ago it didn't matter too much; we relied on visual nav and NAVAIDS... but today? GPS plays a major role.

[Sus_pilot]

This issue never occurred to me before.  As a pilot and instrument flight instructor, this has proven to be fascinating. 

Please tell me you're not a commercial airline pilot!

A lot of nautical charts are in non-WGS datum. Most GPS receivers have multiple datums to choose from but occasionally you come across a chart with a funky datum that is not in the receiver, like the Rome 1950 datum is not in the standard US Navy GPS receiver. Plotting a position requires manually adjusting the GPS position.

I don't think a lot of ATP's would have thought about it either.  It's the receiver adhering to a standard, which was selected by the FAA. I just never thought about the possibility of there being multiple standards available.  This is just good Technicolor for ground school.

ETA:  What's really amazing is running a product like ForeFlight on an iPad, especially with an external antenna.  Even though it's not certified for primary IFR navigation, I can zoom into a sectional, terminal, or IFR en route chart or approach plate to the point where the font on the charts almost becomes the same size as the position indicator and it's all dead on.  ForeFlight claims 5 meter accuracy, and I can't doubt that; when using the airport diagrams to taxi, what I see directly in front of me sure matches where the airplane icon is on the drawing.

[RAF]

Quite possibly the most reasonable and convincing pro-conspiracy video ever.

A wonderful parody...completely captures the spirit of a HB youtube vid.

I'd just love to hear JW read this script.

[JayUtah]

The video is actually a pretty close parody of Bart Sibrel's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon.  At one time Sibrel belonged to a very conservative Fundamentalist church, which might explain why the first part of his film has such a religious flavor.

[ka9q]

I'd just love to hear JW read this script.

And the fact that I'm speaking authoritatively and with an Australian accent...

Nah, just doesn't work.

[Noldi400]

The video is actually a pretty close parody of Bart Sibrel's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon.  At one time Sibrel belonged to a very conservative Fundamentalist church, which might explain why the first part of his film has such a religious flavor.

I haven't seen it in a while - wasn't it Sibrel's film that had a long sequence of tear-jerking images with a voiceover about the wasted money? Which, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with the validity of his claims, just a generic Appeal To Emotion.

I did especially love the repeated "never before seen footage" bits.  I always thought Sibrel's peak was his claim that someone at NASA "accidentally" sent him a secret tape. How can you top that?

[gillianren]

I did especially love the repeated "never before seen footage" bits.

As I said, best use of it was right before the clip from Apollo 13.  Can we get the never-before-seen footage of the two Oscars it won?

[Sus_pilot]

OK, help.  I've either missed the link a hundred times, or there's a bit of inside humor/knowledge that I don't have (I'll pay the membership dues at the next meeting - honest!):  Which YT video?

[Count Zero]

Reply #36 on page 3 of this thread.

[Sus_pilot]

Reply #36 on page 3 of this thread.

In Tapatalk, that imbedded stream isn't visible. Just the text, so it looked like Noldi was responding to something up-thread.  It wasn't till your post prompted me to open it in Safari that I saw it. Thanks!

[JayUtah]

I haven't seen it in a while - wasn't it Sibrel's film that had a long sequence of tear-jerking images with a voiceover about the wasted money?

Yes, about 20 minutes of the 40-minute film was emotional baiting.  The hubris of man in the face of God, etc.  He did use the Titanic, and also the Tower of Babel.  Probably the most egregious emotional terrorism was the intercut of the Apollo 11 launch sequences with photographs of starving children.

I always thought Sibrel's peak was his claim that someone at NASA "accidentally" sent him a secret tape. How can you top that?

By assaulting Buzz Aldrin and getting hit the face for it.