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Am I 33 or 32 ? Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 8/14/2014
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This is another geocache in my aviation series, in particular for London. As usual these caches bring you to a location near the airport with the intent of giving a little lesson about aviation.


This geocache is located near a gravel road which permits parking near the cache. I was able to view an arriving fighter jet immediately prior to placing the cache.

Now for the lesson. When aircraft land or depart from this end of the runway, which has a length of 8,800 feet, they are using Runway 33. Why is this hide titled 'Am I 33 or 32 ?, well it is kind of like how certain people deal with the aging process, but usually people don't use a one year difference, and some, well, it is said they never pass 29. 

As stated above, this is Runway 33 but at one time it was Runway 32. Huh? What is that you are saying. Yes, this runway has aged and its designated number, kind of due to something similar to the passing of time, has increased. It is like this, runways are designated based on magnetic degrees with the last digit being dropped but there are calculations that take into account variation and over time variation changes thus the magnetic bearing also changes. As a result, for many years this was Runway 32 but thanks to the changes in variation it no longer was closest aligned to 320 degrees but is now most closely aligned to 330 degrees, hence it has (aged) changed its degrees for heading for arriving/departing aircraft so its designated runway number had to be changed. BTW, Runway 27 which is mentioned in another of my aviation series geocaches used to be Runway 26.

 

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ab Uvag.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)