Concorde navigation system

Extract

Nothing in the Concorde could be more conventional in this day and age than its navigational equipment installation. Triple inertial systems, dual VOR/DME, dual ILS and even dual ADF are fitted to the basic aircraft. About the only thing we do not have is a navigator.

This is really where the story starts, about 12 years or more ago, with a three man crew which did not include a navigator. His absence was only loosely related to being supersonic. Admittedly, the flight deck of any faster aircraft is very likely to get cramped, particularly in its width, and space for crew members costs money but it is economic pressures which apply to all aircraft which have gradually displaced the specialist crew member. The skill of the equipment designer has made this possible by providing simple controls capable of being operated by the pilot without distracting him from his main task. The specialist radio operator has gone and we are how entering an era in which the navigator will also disappear.