attention flyboys

[dr greg]

Found a thing called a KANE Dead reckoning Computer from 1958 with book, are they still used?

 

[staggerwing]

I'm not familiar with a KANE. Without a picture I'm not sure what it refers to. A common device during that period was the E6B. Kane might be a brand name. The E6B was still used when I learned to fly in the 70s. Today, there are electronic calculators that perform the same typs of functions (calculate density altitude, true airspeed, wind correction angles, convert from knots to mph, etc). I don't own an electronic one. Still use my E6B.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Never heard of a KANE flight computer, just the good old E6B (and yes, I learned to use one when I got my license in the early 90's). Can you post a picture of it?

(And don't make the mistake another pilot friend did during one of our annual friendly competitions en route to the Reno Air Races..."All I need is my trusty EA6B..." Ahem. The pilots here will recognize the grotesquery of this error ).

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I found a pic of it on the Internet...it's just an E6B that's made by a company called Kane.

 

[dr greg]

must be

 

[staggerwing]

I see Kane calls it a MK6B but, it's what most of us would call an E6B. Looks just like mine. Still very much usable today.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I see Kane calls it a MK6B but, it's what most of us would call an E6B. Looks just like mine. Still very much usable today.

You know, I'd have to think for a bit to do a wind triangle anymore! Nowadays, I just enter the data into the Garmin 530, and voila'! I have all the air data computed...

But yep, that's an E6B, alright...I bet they haven't changed since they first came out. Wonder when that was, anyway?

ETA: I should have known...here's the article from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E6B

 

[staggerwing]

Oh, they've changed. Mine is metal. The new ones are cheap plastic.

 

[Pilotguy299]

Oh, they've changed. Mine is metal. The new ones are cheap plastic.

But you can still get the metal ones. Both of my E6Bs are metal.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Mine is a Sanderson, dated 1969. All plastic.

-dixon cannon

 

[warbird]

I hate those E6b's. I am now certain I wouldn't remember how to use one. I bought one of the first good electronic e6b's back in 87 or 88. I carried an extra battery with me in case it went out so I wouldn't have to use that metal one. I never needed the battery. By some great oddity of nature, all these years later that same battery still works.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Mine is metal. And I have my father-in-law's E6B from his early career in the AAC (he's a retired AF pilot). Metal, just as God intended E6Bs to be.

 

[staggerwing]

I hate those E6b's. I am now certain I wouldn't remember how to use one. I bought one of the first good electronic e6b's back in 87 or 88. I carried an extra battery with me in case it went out so I wouldn't have to use that metal one. I never needed the battery. By some great oddity of nature, all these years later that same battery still works.

Mam, I'm just the opposite. I really hate having to learn how to work most anything electronic (and I'm an electrical engineer by training).

 

[Treetopflyer]

Old School

In Naval Aviation flight students are still taught on a CR-2, which is very similar to the E6B. We still carry them in the aircraft in case we have a "bad day" and we lose all of our electronic equipment. If that happens we have bigger problems than figuring out what our fuel burn rate is.

 

[birddog]

I never fly without an E6-B. Since I have three antique airplanes, on a cross country flight there's always a chance for a weather/technical diversion or electrical failure, so it pays to keep the basics sharp. As anaircrewman in the Navy, I once saw a new squadron pilot blow a check ride because the pilot-in-command turned off all nav aids & told the newby to work a map & "whizz wheel" (Navy term for the E6-B) & he didn't carry one, so he flunked the checkride.

Birddog