[a4isms]

I did a little nostalgia threat on Mastodon recently. The sixth picture is of the slide rule I took to High School in 1973.

https://social.bau-ha.us/@raganwald/115979168665997624

Although slide rules are a "dead skill," Aviators typically learn to use something called an E6B Flight Computer, which works on the same principle as a round slide rule.

https://pilotinstitute.com/e6b-made-easy/

I have one in my flight bag and was required to demonstrate proficiency in its use. Of course we fly with connected digital devices these days, but having an analogue backup that operates even if the power fails is important.

[ericpauley]

I splurged on the metal E6B for my private training: https://asa2fly.com/metal-e6b-flight-computer/

A beautiful device... though I have to admit after getting the certificate I exclusively use Foreflight.

[zzless]

I have a couple of EB6s to show to my students but ever since scientific calculators were allowed in written tests, I have never used one myself. Law of cosines is good enough for wind triangles :). Worked for a commercial test as well as the ATP. It is a beautiful device though ...

[libraryofbabel]

Similar point applies to being able to use a sextant for celestial navigation in bluewater sailing. GPS is great, until you lose power or your equipment malfunctions. Of course, you can have double or triple redundancy to make such cases vanishingly rare, but still — it’s nice to have a backup that relies on nothing outside your control.

Some of it is pure nostalgia, though, I’ll admit. It a way to honor how people solved similar problems in the past. In the 18th century a sextant plus accurate chronometer or lunar distance table was one of the pivotal technologies of the age; you could use it to pinpoint your location on the boundless ocean within a few miles. That demands respect, and it’s also just really cool it was possible in an era before electricity and radio.

[a4isms]

> Some of it is pure nostalgia, though, I’ll admit. It a way to honor how people solved similar problems in the past. In the 18th century a sextant plus accurate chronometer or lunar distance table was one of the pivotal technologies of the age; you could use it to pinpoint your location on the boundless ocean within a few miles. That demands respect, and it’s also just really cool it was possible in an era before electricity and radio.

Heh heh, I was in the Sailing Cub in high school, and our Sailing Master (RIP Master Gibb) said literally the same thing about learning to navigate with sextant and chronometer even though we never sailed out of sight of land. It was all about deep respect for the history and tradition of being a Mariner.

Now I fly gliders, "the purest form of flight," and while you can get a glider with electrically operated landing gear, a jet sustainer engine, and digital navigation and flight computing devices...

There is something extraordinarily pure about the exercise of flying with everything electrical turned off (except for the transponder and radio for safety). And even purer... Flying with covered instruments so we don't even get analogue airspeed and altitude.

Circling back to slide rules... Sometimes we crave that simplicity, that direct experience of a thing.

[ghaff]

I used a calculator throughout college; they had just become relatively affordable. But I still generally brought a slide rule to exams in case something happened to my calculator. (They were LED displays and things weren't as generally reliable at that time.)

[cbm-vic-20]

Spock still uses one in the 23rd century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1nKBrkPUeA&t=90s

[ahazred8ta]

"My eyes are dim, I cannot see. I have not brought my E6-B" -- submarines used a similar "Is/Was" circular slide rule for torpedoes. https://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Is-Was

[WillAdams]

Somewhere around here, I have a Proportion Calculator wheel which I used for determining the size/scaling of graphics --- I was the only person in the shop who could use it though, everyone else used calculators or once I showed them how, did math in the size field of the applications such as Freehand/MX which allowed math.