what is 12 low at 15?

[bluebrite]

hi, i'm a fan from thailand. i was watching the eps 12 of season and then i heard this guy said "Starbuck, Pegasus.Resurrection ship 12 low at 15." so i wonder what 12 low at 15 is. can anyone explain that?

[Serenity]

You mean the wireless chatter during combat?

Hard to say for sure. Probably navigational information. Could be some sort of direction in a 3-dimensional space.

[bluebrite]

You mean the wireless chatter during combat?

Hard to say for sure. Probably navigational information. Could be some sort of direction in a 3-dimensional space.

yes wireless chatter. :D

[ThPrime]

hi, i'm a fan from thailand. i was watching the eps 12 of season and then i heard this guy said "Starbuck, Pegasus.Resurrection ship 12 low at 15." so i wonder what 12 low at 15 is. can anyone explain that?

During WW1, pilots communicated with each other using hand signals to point out enemy fighters and ground targets. By WW2, pilots used radio and now could hear each other. Inevitably, someone in a formation sees something first. A reliable system was needed to accurately communicate distance and direction to other pilots, even if the radio transmission was garbled or half heard.

Imagine a clock face encircling your cockpit horizontally, with you at its center. Twelve o'clock is straight ahead, six o'clock directly behind, three is your right, nine is your left, and all hours in between.

Check six! check six! means look behind you because someone is on your tail. Twelve O'Clock High is a movie starring Gregory Peck as a bomber pilot. Etc. Etc.

The phrase is shorter shorthand for "I have a visual target, 12 o'clock and below us at distance angels 15" Replace thousands of feet (angels) with whatever unit of distance they use in Battlestar's universe.

But as far as I know, the clock face is always relative to the direction the formation is headed toward. That is, 12 is always ahead, whether they are travelling north or southeast. Because the shorthand was more reliable during dogfights than the directional and magnetic compasses of the time.

In the contemporary jet age, with air and ground radar, pilots still call out a constant stream of audibles to reassure and let each other know what each is doing. But they use absolute compass headings instead of the relative clock face bearings. Otherwise, it gets confusing.

Vipers have Dradis, and so ironically would likely use absolute bearings also, but hey it sounds cool.

If you get a online air combat sim that features prop planes (or even Beyond the Red Line) you'll hear over voip someone shouting something like "12 low at 15" every flight. Lot's o' fun!