A. Chief Helm Officer (CONN)
B. Assistant Chief Helm Officer (ACONN)
C. Other Positions
III. CONN Station
I. Overview
Every starship or shuttle needs a pilot before it moves in the right direction. The CONN Department is responsible for providing the ship with pilots and co-pilots. On a starbase there is normally no CONN Department needed. The few shuttlecrafts and runabouts on a station can be piloted by other personnel.
The CONN Department complete all matters concerning the ship's helm and navigation (or you could say: astrogation). With the assistance of the ship's computers these officers are in charge of course plotting, supervision of automatic flight functions, corrections of any flight deviations, manual flight operations and position verification. The last is achieved by the use of astonomic references.
During impulse flight, Helm Officers are responsible for making sure that all maneuvers stay within the boundaries of the ship's performance envelope. During warp flight, Helm Officers are required to monitor the ship's subspace field geometry and oversee automatic course corrections by the computer to account for minor variations in the density of interstellar medium.
II. Positions
A. Chief Helm Officer (CONN)
The Conn officer is responsible for all of the ship's helm (flight control) and navigational tasks. Although these functions are primarily automated, their importance requires an officer to oversee them at all times for the safety of the ship and crew. The Conn receives his instructions directly from the Commanding Officer on his shift. The Conn officer computes and maintains the ship's flight plan, accounting for all known variables in the ship's path. Highly interactive, this position is usually the first step toward a command position. Like the Ops officer, this position also has no staff or office unless performing a special task at the request of the CO/FO.
B. Assistant Chief Helm Officer (ACONN)
The Assistant Chief CONN is able to assume the duties of his Chief on a temporary or permanent basis as so needed.
C. Other positions
Helm Officer (HO)
Regular Helm officers are also needed. They pilot the ship when the Chiefs of their department are off-duty or elswhere needed.
Shuttle (Runabout) Pilot (SP)
All small spacecrafts aboard a starship or Starbase (Shuttles, Runabouts, Captain's yacht etc.) are flown by Shuttle Pilots. This is often the proving ground for new Flight Control Officers until they earn a berth on a starship. Her/his direct superior is the Flight Control Officer.
III. CONN Station
Every vessel has a station from where the vessel can be piloted. It is better known as "the Helm" or "the CONN". Usually this station is located in the front of a vessel, with the best view on the main screen.
Although piloting and navigation are heavily automated functions, their criticality demands a human officer to oversee these operations at all times. The Helmsman (this can also be a woman), also referred to as CONN officer receives instructions directly from the officer currently in command on the bridge.
FLIGHT INFORMATION INPUT
There are standard input modes available for specification of spacecraft flight paths. Any of these options may be entered either by keyboard or by vocal command. In each case, Flight Control software will automatically determine an optimal flight path conforming to Starfleet flight and safety rules. Conn then has the option of executing this flight plan or modifying any parameters to meet specific mission needs. Normal input modes include:
Destination planet or star system.
Any celestial object within the navigational database is acceptable as a destination, although the system will inform Conn in the event that a destination exceeds the operating range of the spacecraft. Specific facilities (such as space stations) within the database are also acceptable destinations.
Destination sector.
A sector identification number or sector common name is a valid destination. In the absence of a specific destination within a sector, the flight path will default to the geometric center of the specified sector.
Spacecraft intercept.
This requires Conn to specify a target spacecraft on which a tactical sensor lock has been established. This also requires Conn to specify either a relative closing speed or an intercept time so that a speed can be determined. An absolute warp velocity can also be specified. Navigational software will determine an optimal flight path based on specified speed and tactical projection of target vehicle's flight path. Several variations of this mode are available for use during combat situations.
Relative bearing.
A flight vector can be specified as an azimuth/elevation relative to the current orientation of the spacecraft. In such cases, 000-mark-000 represents a flight vector straight ahead.
Absolute heading.
A flight vector can also be specified as an azimuth/elevation relative to the center of the galaxy. In such cases, 000-mark-000 represents a flight vector from the ship to the center of the galaxy.
IV. Areas of responsibility
On a starship a Conn Officer must always be present on the bridge, so every vessel has a number of Helm Officers to allow shift rotations. His/her tasks are:
A. Position verification
B. Navigational references/course plotting
C. Supervision of automatic flight operations
D. Manual flight operations
The actual execution of flight instructions is generally left to computer control, but Conn has the option of exercising manual control over helm and navigational functions. In full manual mode, Conn can actually steer the ship under keypad control, and on ships such as the Sovereign-class, a control column is installed for full manual override in extreme situations. Navigational references/course plotting. The Flight Control console displays readings from navigational and tactical sensors, overlaying them on current positional and course projections. Conn has the option of accessing data feeds from secondary navigation and science sensors for verification of primary sensor data. Such cross-checks are automatically performed at each change-of-shift and upon activation of Alert status.
During impulse powered spaceflight, Conn is responsible for monitoring relativistic effects as well as inertial damping system status. In the event that a requested maneuver exceeds the capacity of the inertial damping system, the computer will request Conn to modify the flight plan to bring it within the permitted performance envelope.
Warp flight operating rules require Conn to monitor subspace field geometry in parallel with the Engineering department. During warp flight, the computer in the CONN-station continually updates long-range sensor data and makes automatic course corrections to adjust for minor variations in course.
