For Sale E6B & (2) Plotters -- Having a Little Fun with FaceBook Seller

DJTorrente

DJTorrente

En-Route
PoA Supporter
Joined
Dec 16, 2011
Messages
3,821
Location
NJ
Display Name
DJTorrente
I'm not the seller. I'm including a link to the ad below, in case anyone actually wants to buy. But I couldn't resist having a little fun with my message to Seller, who described these as "Barely Used":

1000006130.jpg

Facebook

www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
 
Last edited:
For years I was required by GOM to carry a E6B circular computer in my flightbag when I flew 121. I bought one and left it in the wrapper and put it in the side pocket and never touched it. It's somewhere in the closet in pristine new condition never touched.
 
The last time I pulled my E6B out was around 2000 when I was writing a magazine article about the effect of wind on powered paragliders. The scale on the wind triangle side didn't go down slow enough.
 
Doc Holliday said:
For years I was required by GOM to carry a E6B circular computer in my flightbag when I flew 121. I bought one and left it in the wrapper and put it in the side pocket and never touched it. It's somewhere in the closet in pristine new condition never touched.
Click to expand...
Really? How much you want for it? :goofy:
 
DJTorrente said:
in case anyone actually wants to buy
Click to expand...
I still have my metal (not cheap paper!) E6B that has its own pencil holder. And two plotters. One is an SP-7, sort of a half-sized version of the SP-4 in the photo. The other is a "Rapid Course," which was actually pretty cool. Two connected parallel clear rulers. You placed one on your course line and the other on a nearby VOR to read the radial and skip the true to magnetic calculation.
 
I keep my metal E6B in my kneeboard. If I remember it's there, I generally set it to my ground speed and try to reference it once in a while to compare the time and distance calculation the GPS is displaying. But I don't usually remember it's there.
 
I still have have mine from years ago ,very little use.
 
You guys with your fancy handheld machinery. We used do it right. Pencil, string, stop watch. Bah! :rofl:
 
Last time I legitimately used an E6B (the exact same model as pictured) was on my first solo cross country flight (2002 if I recall) and I was trying to determine wind correction. Spent way more time looking at that thing than I was comfortable with. Might have used it once or twice since then to do temperature conversions and such. Parents bought me an electronic one for Christmas a couple years ago and now I'm spoiled.

Is that a real picture from Star Trek or is that AI? I've been a Trekkie almost all my life and don't recall seeing him using one.
 
I can't believe I never noticed that! Especially in such a consequential and impactful episode!

Alright...didn't mean to hijack the sales thread. Somebody go and buy the dude's nav kit! I have my own nav tools I use on paper. It was quite a lot of fun teaching my CFI how to use my plotter.
 
No Fields medal for Spock I guess. He can borrow mine(kidding of course).
 
Matthew said:
I keep my metal E6B in my kneeboard. If I remember it's there, I generally set it to my ground speed and try to reference it once in a while to compare the time and distance calculation the GPS is displaying. But I don't usually remember it's there.
Click to expand...
What’s a “kneeboard”?
 
midlifeflyer said:
Joke? I thought Spock was calculating drift from galactic winds.
Click to expand...
I don't think you understand the reference. Spock did not choose the prop. The prop was chosen by the producer, as sort of a 'Easter egg' for us pilots to find and chuckle over. He knew, in 1967 that most of the great unwashed non-aviators would see Spock using the prop(a simple metal device), and believe it had some galactic significance. While the pilots viewing would be spitting Pepsi out their nose, laughing so hard.
 
Barrett50 said:
I don't think you understand the reference. Spock did not choose the prop. The prop was chosen by the producer, as sort of a 'Easter egg' for us pilots to find and chuckle over. He knew, in 1967 that most of the great unwashed non-aviators would see Spock using the prop(a simple metal device), and believe it had some galactic significance. While the pilots viewing would be spitting Pepsi out their nose, laughing so hard.
Click to expand...
I don’t think you understand my comment :D
 
I couldn't use one if my life depended on it.
And I will take it a step further. Never in my aviation journey could I ever have used it.
If you handed me an abacus and said you will need this for the test I'd say "I'm ok getting those questions wrong"
 
Barrett50 said:
View attachment 150430
E6B is basically a circular slide rule with a specific group of functions. I started college with this, and made it through Trig.
Click to expand...
I am not far away from buying one of those off of FB Marketplace or EBay.

I was the last class of mechanical engineers at my alma mater to learn first year drafting with pencil and paper vs. pixels. I'm kind of an old soul that way (and others).
 
My first MOS in the Army was 52L, Nuclear power plant technician. It was a brutal course and I joined at 17. To pass the final exam there was a requirement to determine all kinds of decays, half lifes, threat distance vectors, etc. I get to the test room, and there's all these guys taking tests for infantry, armor, arty, and the proctor has a huge clock on the wall. Most tests are like 25-40 min. I hand the proctor my exam orders and the test time is 2 hours 45 min. He looks at me like I'm from Mars, and gives me a desk and the exam booklet(like 15 pages). I start taking the test, and after 20 min pull out my slide rule. The proctor comes over and says to put that away. I just ignore him and keep sliding. This happens maybe 4 times, and I finally tell this WO to go read the instructions on the proctor's exam order. It says right on it; "student is permitted to use a slide rule, or electronic calculator during the test." The guy comes back and wants to chat about it. I tell him I'm on the clock and if he interrupts me again, I'm going to stop the test, and report him for interference. He left me alone, I passed the test and never touched an Army nuclear reactor during my time. From there I went to OJT as a combat medic. I got fast on the slide rule as a teen, today, I'd be as lost as Six above.
 
I still keep a CR-5 in my flight bag. I use it occasionally for endurance calculations while holding.
 
I could probably get lots of money for my CR computers, as they’re “highly experienced.” ;)
 
I still have the E6B I had to buy and use for my pilot training. I used to occasionally pull it out and use it just for fun and/or to keep proficient. That lasted a couple months after I got my ticket, when I figured out I'd really never need to use it again. I think I know where it is, but I'd be hard pressed to figure out how to use it for anything other than simple stuff.

My watch has an E6B type rotating bezel... it was useless due to my inability to read it without a magnifying glass even before I forgot how to do most things with it. "Decorative novelty" describes it best.
 
Last edited:
midlifeflyer said:
What’s a “kneeboard”?
Click to expand...


71TrmMYd1tS._AC_UF350,350_QL80_.jpg
 
I had a slide rule almost identical to the one posted above and was told by my high school instructor I couldn't use it. Had to use long math only. I soloed in 1965 at 16 and used a circular E6-B that I still have but tried to relearn how to use about 10 years ago (for our Mail Run) and failed, bought a standard slider type as pictured above. Here at KFEP, once a year, we have a contest called the Mail Run. We are given 3 destinations to fly to, take a picture to prove we were there and end up back at KFEP. You have tell the contest director before you leave, your time enroute, to the second, and the fuel used, to the 10th of a gallon, then go fly the course. But; with no electronics! Nothing other than a map, compass, and a stop watch, or 3 stop watches as some use. And no electronics to flight plan either. Again just the E6B, a sectional, and a plotter. And it is truly challenging and fun! Winds aloft become critical to determine before you launch but also must be checked once airborne of confirm and make changes needs on the fly! The time in the air is typically around 1.5hrs.
 
I was in the last 7th grade class in my school to learn slide rule. The following year everybody was told to buy a calculator, with trig functions.

In engineering school I had my TI-57 programmable calculator but always brought a slide rule to important exams... saved my butt once when my calculator battery died.
 
Spotter626 said:
I had a slide rule almost identical to the one posted above and was told by my high school instructor I couldn't use it. Had to use long math only. I soloed in 1965 at 16 and used a circular E6-B that I still have but tried to relearn how to use about 10 years ago (for our Mail Run) and failed, bought a standard slider type as pictured above. Here at KFEP, once a year, we have a contest called the Mail Run. We are given 3 destinations to fly to, take a picture to prove we were there and end up back at KFEP. You have tell the contest director before you leave, your time enroute, to the second, and the fuel used, to the 10th of a gallon, then go fly the course. But; with no electronics! Nothing other than a map, compass, and a stop watch, or 3 stop watches as some use. And no electronics to flight plan either. Again just the E6B, a sectional, and a plotter. And it is truly challenging and fun! Winds aloft become critical to determine before you launch but also must be checked once airborne of confirm and make changes needs on the fly! The time in the air is typically around 1.5hrs.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a fun event. How do you obtain the winds aloft data without electronics?
 
Okay, so I'm going along with the joke, now - believe it or not, there's a place that this is - the reality. You've never been there, so go fly in and verify. At E02 in S NM, it's a medium size mountain strip. There is NO cell service in the valley, and there is no aviation radio service except maybe, sometimes, if you are lucky you can reach Biggs AAF tower freq. If you do reach them, and they do talk to you - are you going to ask the tower to call FSS and relay a full pre-flight weather brief? Yeah - good luck with that. But!/however! A few paces away, around the corner, just over the Sacramento river bridge, in all it's glory is a PAY PHONE. Does it work? :yes:

I have literally schlepped over to the pay phone, dialed wxbrief and gotten my weather update. Since it's a mountain airport, things can be a bit exciting sometimes with the winds, and with the fog and clouds on the western side of the Sacramento range(good sailplane location). It's a hoot and a half. I had the runway paved a few years ago, but it's got plenty of weeds coming through because the jerk that manages it now is a clueless tool. Still a nice place to fly. Land 31 T/O 13 only. Up the street is a small deli, and there are bathrooms there, or the gen store further up the road. No services, no tie down, and don't try to break into the tractor shed, it's on 24 hour camera coverage.
 
Barrett50 said:
Okay, so I'm going along with the joke, now - believe it or not, there's a place that this is - the reality. You've never been there, so go fly in and verify. At E02 in S NM, it's a medium size mountain strip. There is NO cell service in the valley, and there is no aviation radio service except maybe, sometimes, if you are lucky you can reach Biggs AAF tower freq. If you do reach them, and they do talk to you - are you going to ask the tower to call FSS and relay a full pre-flight weather brief? Yeah - good luck with that. But!/however! A few paces away, around the corner, just over the Sacramento river bridge, in all it's glory is a PAY PHONE. Does it work? :yes:

I have literally schlepped over to the pay phone, dialed wxbrief and gotten my weather update. Since it's a mountain airport, things can be a bit exciting sometimes with the winds, and with the fog and clouds on the western side of the Sacramento range(good sailplane location). It's a hoot and a half. I had the runway paved a few years ago, but it's got plenty of weeds coming through because the jerk that manages it now is a clueless tool. Still a nice place to fly. Land 31 T/O 13 only. Up the street is a small deli, and there are bathrooms there, or the gen store further up the road. No services, no tie down, and don't try to break into the tractor shed, it's on 24 hour camera coverage.
Click to expand...
There’s a pay phone on the street near the Philadelphia Convention Center. Last time I checked it looked like it was still in working order.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top