Flight plans

[Enoki]

Also a human judgement of risk management- I envision it like a WWII bombing run, navigator takes over the controls to get jump insertion just right, while possibly under fire or escaping a solar flare.

I'd say it's more like a post WW 2 SAM missile intercept. The launch point (where the jump begins) is a stationary, fixed point. The end point of the jump is moving in 3 dimensions relative to the jump point but it isn't going to radically maneuver but rather continue on a fixed course. Once the intercept point is calculated, like the missile, the ship jumps and arrives (hopefully) at the target intercepting it. The amount of error comes from any cumulative errors in the target movement, the ship's movement (if any), 'slop' in the program itself, etc.

 

[BlackBat242]

Spoiler alert:
Pilots actually prefer airports WITHOUT a tower(!) so they don't have to radio ground control in order to "do stuff" in and around the airport ... because there just isn't that much traffic in the area, so no ground control needed.

However, intelligent pilots still get on the radio before moving onto the runway and announce their departure and direction - and then once off the ground they announce any course/altitude changes until at least 5 miles from the airport (and similarly to land).

The lack of a controller means that other pilots won't have any idea of where you are and where you're going unless YOU tell them.

Operating visually without radio contact cuts reaction margins extremely thin.

 

[Deldarius]

I would think flight plans would need to be filed if one was shipping contracted, insured or valuable cargo for a patron. Mail would be certainly tracked.

It's a legal paper trail of your comings and goings. Anything that can be used if you F up, they want. Accountability!

Financial malfeasance, that's the CFO'S job.

 

[Ulsyus]

I'd always imagined that flight/trip plans would be a mandatory thing regulated by the 3I. That way it makes it easier for government agencies to investigate issues around smuggling, piracy, non-payment of taxes (someone has to pay for that Sector fleet), and assist finance companies tracking down loan-skippers who've taken off with their ship.

 

[mike wightman]

How do you file a "flight plan" with your destination system?
If it isn't on the xboat network it could be a month before the data concerning flight plans arrives...

 

[Spinward Flow]

I'd always imagined that flight/trip plans would be a mandatory thing regulated by the 3I.

As @mike wightman already pointed out, that works just fine for places with instantaneous communications to update tracking databases.

As soon as you factor in jump lag into the communications network, the whole operational idea collapses in pretty short order.

It's such a fundamental difference in communications (and the limits thereof) that the one of the few ways to illustrate the point is the fact that now (2023) we take nigh instantaneous communications to the other side of the planet pretty much for granted. Compare that to the days of exploration during the Age of Sail, when ships at sea could be out of communication for MONTHS, with no one (aside from their crews, maybe) knowing where they were at any given time.

For more pontificating on the difference that instant communications technology makes in how people think about their world, look no further than Red's video on the Overly Sarcastic Productions channel on youtube.

 

[coliver988]

How do you file a "flight plan" with your destination system?
If it isn't on the xboat network it could be a month before the data concerning flight plans arrives...

IMTU the flight plan is to help track things down when they go sideways. I.e., we know that they left the original system on this date and were planning on going to the destination. The destination obviously knows nothing about this until the ship actually shows up. But if it were not to show up, the insurance agency/skip tracer/ones left behind could follow the trail that far at least.

But yes, w/o instantaneous communication it is a very lopsided flight plan.

Also IMTU, part of that flight plan is also the ships transponder carries the flight plan from the origin system to the destination: not just their plan, but all the plans for the last few months. Part of the handshake process for a port that has the technology to do so (and class C and above generally have that technology). Yes, there are probably technical issues with this approach, but it does allow for the rapid & widespread dissemination of data for the port authority.

And the XBoats also carry a much more complete set of this sort of data as well.

 

[Ulsyus]

IMTU the flight plan is to help track things down when they go sideways. I.e., we know that they left the original system on this date and were planning on going to the destination. The destination obviously knows nothing about this until the ship actually shows up. But if it were not to show up, the insurance agency/skip tracer/ones left behind could follow the trail that far at least.

That was my point, thanks for putting it more clearly

And the XBoats also carry a much more complete set of this sort of data as well.

...which is what a networked society, that doesn't have instantaneous comms, would likely (IMO) do

 

[Diveguy]

As above, but I could also see it as useful for the trade/communications side of things. Not in terms of where people are going, what with the comms lag - but, established routes that *most* ships would follow. (Not saying all ships would follow same routes - but, that once a trader figures out a lucrative path & builds connections, it would tend to use the same routine.)

"We know from her past few logs that Free Trader Magpie will hit port here about every 8 months, and her next stop is usually to system Able or Baker. So, if we need to get cargo/passengers there, it's a good possibility..."

 

[kilemall]

I can see LE applications as well. A ship that consistently isn’t going where it says it will bears watching.

 

[Ulsyus]

I can see LE applications as well. A ship that consistently isn’t going where it says it will bears watching.

It's patterns and activity that draws flags in monitoring agencies. Given the slow rate of information flow via the X-boat route, this would take time to put together, but eventually the compelling evidence would be in that they'd need to look more closely at a particular VoI (Vessel of Interest). That would give the VoI a buffer in which to get it's business done before someone comes looking for them, but eventually the KALOFs (Keep A Look Out For) would be issued by a 3I agency, and the sector would slowly become a less permissive environment for the VoI in question.

Not that different really to mortgage jumpers who take off with the vessel, knowing they have a short period of time before someone starts asking why they haven't paid their bills