franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

3.4 FLIGHT CONTROL (CONN)3.4 FLIGHT CONTROL (CONN)The Flight Control console, often referred to as Conn, isresponsible for the actual piloting and navigation of thespacecraft. Although these are heavily automated functions,their criticality demands a human officer to oversee theseoperations at all times. The Flight Control Officer (also referredto as Conn) receives instructions directly from the CommandingOfficer.There are five major areas of responsibility for the FlightControl Officer:• Navigational references/course plotting• Supervision of automatic flight operations• Manual flight operations• Position verification• Bridge liaison to Engineering departmentDuring impulse powered spaceflight, Conn is responsiblefor monitoring relativistic effects as well as inertialdamping system status. In the event that a requested maneuverexceeds the capacity of the inertial damping system, thecomputer will request Conn to modify the flight plan to bring itwithin the permitted performance envelope. During Alertstatus, flight rules permit Conn to specify maneuvers that arepotentially dangerous to the crew or the spacecraft.Warp flight operating rules require Conn to monitorsubspace field geometry in parallel with the Engineeringdepartment. During warp flight, the Flight Control consolecontinually updates long-range sensor data and makes automaticcourse corrections to adjust for minor variations in thedensity of the interstellar medium.Because of the criticality of Flight Control in spacecraftoperations, particularly during crisis situations, Conn is connectedto a dedicated backup flight operations subprocessorto provide for manual flight control. This equipment packageincludes emergency navigation sensors.SPECIFIC DUTIES• Navigational references/course plotting. The FlightControl console displays readings from navigational and tacticalsensors, overlaying them on current positional andcourse projections. Conn has the option of accessing datafeeds from secondary navigation and science sensors forverification of primary sensor data. Such cross-checks areautomatically performed at each change-of-shift and uponactivation of Alert status.• Manual flight operations. The actual execution offlight instructions is generally left to computer control, butConn has the option of exercising manual control over helmand navigational functions. In full manual mode, Conn canactually steer the ship under keypad control.Emergency override selectImpulse systems controlWarp drive systems controlX-Y translation pad controlManual sequence controlsNavigational reference display3.4.1 Flight Control panel (Cruise Mode)