Helmsman looking at the viewscreen?

[John Luck Pickard]

I don't understand why, and I've mostly noticed this with Tom Paris, the person at helm looks at the viewscreen more often than not, as if it was necessary to see where they're going. Wouldn't it be much more practical to look at the sensors to determine information. It just seems very strange. Watch any battle scene of Voyager and you'll see what I mean.

[Founder]

I don't think they're looking at the viewscreen to see where they are going. I think it just serves as a good visual aid. Rather then tiny blips, numbers, letters, etc. He can simply see the ship is in front of them, so he should turn left or something.

[Voyager2004]

Not only that...but one time they lost sensors or something like that...and Tom said something along the lines of...

"I'm telling you captain, give me a window..." etc...something like he could do better or something. It was rather funny.

[Untitled]

[JupiterPrime]

Could you just imagine how silly it would have been....

Paris flying thorugh a battle with all sortsoof explosions and ships flying around, and suddenly someone has to walk across to get from one station to another and he starts flipping out with...

"Hello, battle going on outside, cant see around you caboose, get the hell out of the way"

when hes probably got more accurate information on his console than from teh viewscreen.....

This would have been even more funny in TOS, where the bridge was offset about 30 degrees from dead ahead (always wondered why that was)

[Lord Borg]

It would still be a visual aid. Any pilot could do that. Viewscreens there for a reason

[StarfleetCommand74656]

Yeah- they should rely on sensors- but do you drive a car by looking at the GPS?

[JupiterPrime]

You could...if you had all the sensor data for everything around you , not just where you are located on the map.....it would be just like playing a video game - you are given senory input by the environment and you react accordingly

[ZiriDelvar]

Maybe the helmsman wants to look around. Otherwise, they could omit the bridge position and fly the ship from auxilary control (though I don't think we've actually seen an auxilary control room since TOS).

[JupiterPrime]

and that is STILL a viable option - thats why its called AUXILLIARY control - more or less ANY of the major functions functions could be performed fm there - piloting included - all you need is accurate input data for everything around you and you could maneuver the vessel.

Imagine Submariners - they do the same exact thing - they mave terrain maps of te ocean floor and its depths so that they dont go runing into pillars or the ground when the depth changes - and they have no windows to speak of - they rely on accurate topography of the ocean floor, and sonar and radar to get the location of other vessels - so yes it could be done - as it si being done today

[StarfleetCommand74656]

[JupiterPrime]

Theres a difference between driving a car on a static 2 dimensional surface and flying a vessel in a 3 dimensional space such as air or water or space...

If I had accurately terrain mapping and accurate sensor data including other vehicles in the area, their relative size and speed to my own vehicle and I was able to discern minor potholes from an open grating, within a range of a half mile radius at least, and nothing was using any sort of stealth preventing it from showing up on my screen, and I could still guage traffic lights and pedestrains from that sensor data....

...Yeah I probably would

[ILoveHarry]

In a video game you can just start over and get a new life. If you actually crash your space ship b/c you're looking at the little bleeps instead of what's actually ahead of you... Game Over.

[Lord Borg]

What she said .

Even if they had all of that say...in a car, you'd still be smart to look at the window/screen, something could pop out that was not on the sensor data

[~Voyager Fanatic~]

Yes, also, it would do the Helms Officer some good to take part in any new interesting discoveries, anomalies, phenomena that appear on the screen for the sake of scientific exploration. Basically, whether a not you are a helms officer, you should ocassionally look up whether or not it is useful or just for fun and interest.

[JupiterPrime]

[djlazerx]

try piloting a Jem Hadr ship only their Vorta and first can see what goes on through that lens