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In aircrafts it's common to use navigation instruments based on gyroscopes. See: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrosc

• mehrdadn 6y ago
  Thanks but I'm confused, how is that relevant to the article?
  • kjeetgill 6y ago
    You asked > How do compasses work on aircraft? So the parent responded with gyroscope based navigation. Perhaps you'd meant to ask > How would these compasses work on an aircraft? *Edited
    • mehrdadn 6y ago
      I.. guess? Didn't even occur to me... I thought it went without saying that my comment wasn't just blatantly irrelevant to the article, but maybe I shouldn't have assumed that.
    • pezezin 6y ago
      A compass and a gyroscope are two very different devices. The former measures the Earth magnetic field, which is an external magnitude independent of your craft or movement. The later measures your rate of rotation, which is an internal magnitude. Even the best gyro will have an small amount of noise and drift, so you need some external reference to periodically correct it. Also, because they measure an speed, to get your orientation you need to integrate the measures over time, which amplifies the noise. In reality you usually combine both with an accelerometer and a GPS.