Talk:Flight controller

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Contents 1 to "have the conn" 2 "conn officer" 3 "ancient" word 4 Astrogation plotter

[edit] to "have the conn"

How many times in any of Star Trek's many incarnations have we heard someone utter the immortal phrase "You have the Conn" ? What does it mean, exactly? (Moved from conn) – The preceding unsigned comment was added by Broik (talk • contribs) .

Given Roddenberry's history as a naval aviator, i had always assumed it was navy (or airplane) terminology for "you have the controls" -- but i've never seen a reference to this being the source of it. Seeing as "conn" is short for "flight controller" as of TNG, i assumed this to be a correlation. -- Captain Mike K. Bartel^talk 17:11, 13 Jan 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "conn officer"

Has this term ever been used -- the only occurrences i find under google, besides MA, are fan sites? -- Captain M.K. Bartel^talk 15:57, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Conn officer is just short for flight control officer, which this article should be titled. source: ST:TNG Technical Manual – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.7.187.72 (talk).

[edit] "ancient" word

I changed the background referring to "conn" as an "ancient" word, and dating it from the eleventh century. Nothing anywhere near this recent is ever called "ancient" in the twenty-first century; and I don't think there's any reason it would be in the twenty-fourth century, if that's the perspective the background is supposed to be writing from. Just thought this might be better. – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 205.212.73.235 (talk).

19th century Deadwood = 24th century Ancient West. --Alan 16:35, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Astrogation plotter

The reference that this term was used it is as follows:

"We've managed to find a replacement for the Transporter Chief, but we still need an Astrogation Plotter, a Chief Engineer, medical support personnel."

Some of the blanks can be filled in by who was given new positions aboard the ship, including B'Elanna Torres as chief engineer. Since we know Stadi was killed and Tom Paris functioned as her replacement, as well as the fact that "astrogation" is (in sci-fi references) an alternate term for "navigation", it would seem the logical conclusion would be to merge the astrogation plotter with navigator, as that would seem to certainly define the role performed by said position.

Addendum #1: Well, perhaps this has gotten more complicated that I originally stated as flight controller may actually be the accurate term...despite the fact that this term would seem to apply to both.

Addendum #2: Okay, so the deeper I dig, the more facts of interest I've revealed. For some reason, we seem to make a distinction between navigator/flight controller, which combining flight controller and conn, when the terminology has not been as established as being universally interchangeable. Navigator seems to drop off at TNG and replaced with flight controller, however, the term "navigator" continued to be used on occasion in TNG: "Conundrum" (Ro Laren) TNG: "The First Duty" (Hajar), DS9: "Broken Link" (Amat'igan), and VOY: "The Voyager Conspiracy" (Tuvok).

So with that said, perhaps we should merge everything (except helmsman) into "navigator" and make the "conn" article a bit more distinctive, in terms of defining it as being the one "in charge of the bridge". --Alan 18:39, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree that astrogation plotter could probably be merged to flight controller. However, I think the flight controller article and the navigator article should stay separate. The flight controller (or conn) is a combination of the duties of the helmsman and the navigator, as seen on TOS. It thus wouldn't seem right (at least to me) to merge flight controller into navigator and leave helmsman by itself. If anything, helmsman and navigator should probably be merged into flight controller... but I would be somewhat against that since they were separate entities during the 23rd century. --From Andoria with Love 04:45, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

RIKER: "Navigators on this ship have been doing flight handling assessments the same way for years, Ensign." --Alan 03:06, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Like I said, in the 24th century, navigation and piloting (helm) duties were merged into the conn. So, yeah, they were navigators... they were also helmsmen. How many times was the conn/"navigator" also referred to as "helm" on TNG & VOY? Also, I believe Riker was referring specifically to navigation controls in that quote, yes? Anyway, my point is, if we merge flight controller into navigator, then that will leave us with one article discussing navigation in the 23rd century and navigation as part of flight controls in the 24th century, and a second article only discussing helm control in the 23rd century despite the fact helm control was part of the flight controller function in the 24th century. Am I making sense? --From Andoria with Love 05:11, 12 June 2008 (UTC)