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> this is another equipment update that will need to dealt with. Even in planes with only 'steam' gauges the changes are minor — you won't need any new equipme
by perilunar 5y ago
> this is another equipment update that will need to dealt with.
Even in planes with only 'steam' gauges the changes are minor — you won't need any new equipment.
Currently: direction indicator is set to magnetic. When planning a flight you take true headings from charts and have to convert them all to magnetic. You then fly magnetic headings.
After the changeover: direction indicator is set to true. No need to convert headings when planning a flight. You fly true headings, and the only conversion you need to make is when setting the DI from the compass.
(If you don't have a DI you can still pre-convert all your headings to magnetic and fly those. You'll need to mentally convert runways headings etc. though.)
- barbazoo 5y agoIt drifts considerably over time so you'd have to set it to true periodically which on the ground during start up is fine but not in the air, having to determine magnetic variation at your current location.
- jcrawfordor 5y agomagnetic variation doesn't change all that quickly at 100 knots, and charts provide the variation. I don't really see it being a much bigger workload, and I imagine that if this change does occur chart plotters like Foreflight will start displaying the current variation very prominently for convenience (it's already pretty easy to pull up). I can also imagine people starting to sell retrofit bug rings for heading indicators that let you set the variation in for convenient setting. But in general most pilots of slow aircraft probably already know the approx. variation around their area by memory, most pilots of fast aircraft will have instruments that do it for them.