Talk about the profession-dream of many boys? Find out who this is - the navigator in the sky, ship, space and rally?
Who is he?
The word comes from the Netherlands. stuurman. This is a composition of two words: stuur - "steering wheel", man - "man". A navigator is a profession, position, specialty, professional rank, type of activity of a crew member of a ship, aircraft, space device or a racing car, whose main task is orientation on the ground, control over following a given course.
Thus, the profession is directly related to transport management:
- Waterborne in the fleet.
- Automotive at various rallies.
- Aerial in aviation.
In addition, in some works of the science fiction genre, navigators are spacecraft navigators. Maybe someday this profession will become real.
Navigator in the navy
Here, the navigator is a specialty related to transport management: surface (ship, ship) or underwater (bathyscaphe, submarine). The title is given to representatives of the navigational specialty. Their responsibilities in the fleet are as follows:
- Plotting course.
- Calculus of displacements.
- Display of the ship on the map.
- Monitoring the proper functioning of navigation devices.
In everyday life, a navigator is a captain of a ship, ship, or other navigational facility; a person who knows how to control surface or submarine vehicles independently or with the help of a team.
The profession appeared in the era of the great geographical discoveries as a result of the invention of navigation devices. Therefore, a man was needed who knew how to use them, who knew mathematics, astronomy, and pilotage. In Russia, the beginning of a centralized navigational service was laid on January 25, 1701 according to the decree of Peter the Great.
Among the notable navigators, S.I. Chelyuskin, F. Rozmyslov, A.I. Velkitsky, V.I. Albanov can be noted. In our country, the naval navigators' professional holiday is celebrated on January 25.
Navigator in aviation
In the aviation business, a flight navigator is one of the positions of flight personnel. His duties are as follows:
- Route Layout.
- The mark of movement on the map - topographic or digital.
- Monitoring the operation of navigation devices.
In the military type of aviation, the tasks of a navigator pilot are somewhat different: aiming and dropping bombs, taking photographs, pointing and further launching missiles. In addition, there is such a profession as the navigator-operator - the specialization is narrower, which has nothing to do with navigation.
The navigator sometimes duplicates the pilot, for which he conducts his special training in aircraft control. In our country, you can meet the following narrow specializations within this profession:
- Tester.
- Operator.
- The instructor.
- Chief Inspector.
- Senior Inspector.
- Lead inspector.
- The navigator of the aircraft.
- Navigator of the air squadron.
- Senior Aviation School.
- Senior Aviation Enterprise.
- Senior Aviation Center.
- Chief navigator.
- Flag navigator.
Representatives of the profession celebrate their professional holiday on March 24th - this is the day of the creation of the central air navigation station in 1916.
Navigator on a rally
Here the navigator is the second crew member who must follow the route on the map, road book, transcript, the meaning of which is to give the driver the necessary instructions for moving. Such a role is characteristic not only for rally raids, but also for the classic rally, only in the latter case the navigator is no longer engaged in orienteering. His duties: compliance with standards for time and speed, control of records in the navigator's notebook or on a map, communication with the judges.
We list the general tasks of the navigator in racing sport:
- Preparation for the competition: understands the rules, referee's documents, calculates the necessary speed of movement, compiles a route sheet.
- The interaction of the crew with the refereeing team.
- Drawing up transcripts - "legends" of the route. In cases where preliminary acquaintance with the map is not possible, it focuses on the road book (a transcript written by the organizers).
- Compliance with the schedule for the passage of the route.
- Orientation to unfamiliar areas.
- Instructions to the pilot on the direction, speed and nature of the movement.
There is a navigator on the ship, aircraft, crew of a racing car. And everywhere it is a responsible and necessary specialty, requiring considerable knowledge, endurance, developed intuition and experience.