If a pilot is flying visula flight rules (VFR) then it is very easy to get a point in the distance to aim towards by taking a queue from the arrow. He could easily fly that course. At night it would certainly be much easier to follow the beacons, and the arrows would not be visible unless they were lighted. Airway beacons also had means to provide directional guidance for pilots. They were set up to show the direction of the airway they were illuminating. They also had a separate lamp system that gave the identifier for that beacon in Morse code. I don't know know if the pilot had any charts or compass readings for the course. Certainly, he must have. I am just not aware of it. I need to do more research! Instrument flying (IFR) was not very highly developed then, and it seems to me that only a fool hearty pilot would attempt it, especially without charts. From: Ed <utnatsedj1@xmission.com> To: Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 12:28 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Concrete Arrows Brent, I must apologize, you are correct! I got the wrong orientation from the fuzzy Google Earth images, then discovered the higher resolution Bing images but, mesmerized by the detailed image, failed to notice the orientation. Not intending to beat a dead horse, but why then does the exit 77 arrow not point at the beacon site north of Grantsville, in effect skipping that marker and pointing at Lakeside. Is the answer that if a pilot can see the arrow in daytime, he can fly the straight path to Lakeside, while at night, following beacon lights he would be better off going for the clearer, less confusing perhaps, and brighter beacon directed at him from the marker north of Grantsville before changing course and heading for Lakeside? As a pilot yourself, does that make sense? Could a pilot set a reasonable course based on a short blunt arrow as he flies over or near it? Or, would he have a chart listing the compass course for each leg of the route and use that for navigation? In the later case, I guess the arrow would just be a coarse reminder of which way to turn when passing the marker. Ed ------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 10:22:02 -0700 [11:22:02 AM MDT] From: Brent Watson <brentjwatson@yahoo.com> I did try Bing maps. There is better resolution, I agree. However, the arrow at exit 62 looks to point right at the arrow at exit 77. The arrow at exit 77 does point a bit north of Lakepoint, but not that far. I could give the 1930s surveyors a bit of slack, and over that distance an airplane should be able to connect the dots. Neither appears to me to point to Ogden. All of this assumes that Bing keeps north at the very top of the image. Did you notice the color paint on the arrow at exit 77? It looks to be red with a dark blue border. That is different than the yellow they were supposed to be painted. Patrick, is that paint still there? Brent _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".