Compass fitting

That makes sense, the real reason behind wing walking ? get accurate headings. Very few pilots I expect anywhere unless looking at career progression bother with IFR, night ratings etc

Channa.
 
David , It seems I am not the only one baffled by the CAA/FAA spats in respect of licensing.
My daughters partner is a pilot for BA on 737s and 757s did have his type rating for 767s when he started his career with Thomsons.

A lot of the Airlines still send pilots to the states to gain the necessary hours coming back to the uk to top up and take the CAA exams. One reason the CAA is preferred is that most airlines have access to simulators in this country and as you are aware each pilot is required to regularly refresh.

When Finningley was still operational, I spent time there as as a guest on the Jetstream simulators, whilst the graphics were poor, it mattered little for instrument landings, one training aid were blinkers akin to a racehorse so you scanned the T. Bob Johnston the instructor suggested, firm at night , kiss the tarmac during the day. I still marvel at the vulcan coming home. restricted forward vision at the best of times having watched a few cockpit videos. Down the centreline everytime.

All very expensive as you say

Channa
 
Pity...quite a few quid to me made out of doing it. I've heard of shipping companies being charged around £10k to have it done...now, where did I leave my notes on compasses?
 
Mastodon said:
That depends on whether or not you want it to be accurate or just point at the biggest magnet in your van... We have a Silva one which has compensating magnets, this involves aligning the vehicle to the cardinal points, taking readings,splitting the difference... (Aka 'compass swinging'). Still not as complicated as doing it with aircraft though.
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I used to Swing Compasses on C-130 Hercules from time to time, mainly on hot sunny days at RAF Thorney Island in late 60's early 70's, strange how they alwaysseemed to need 'swining' on hot, sunny days! typically took 3-4 hrs each, and I used to get paid for it, luxury!

Or, you could always go the full hog and buy a 'Buble Sextant', that'll keep you busy for hours...

Enjoy
Captain Biggles :plane:
 
SeanW said:
GPS is generally set to show True North.

Marine GPS Units can, and do show various Almanac pages as well. Including the magnetic variation for the area you're in. On paper charts it was easy to find - it was printed inside the compass rose.

I actually quite enjoy doing compass error checks. Granted, I now look at a sunrise/sunset and think "Ahh...azimuth" rather than "Ahh...how pretty"



Pity...quite a few quid to me made out of doing it. I've heard of shipping companies being charged around £10k to have it done...now, where did I leave my notes on compasses?
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Whilst I would agree most car gps sets show true north by default and have no option to change this many other gps sets do offer a choice of both coordinate systems and north type which would allow inthe UK true north, magnetic and grid.

As for compass adjusting the cost is always goingt depend on the work level. Swinging a big steel ship will require several swings each involving the use of a tug. The first swing is to measure the base deviation so that the corrections can be calculatd and applied (using the soft iron spheres mounted either side of the binacle and the Flinders bar below the compass) the ship is hen swung again to hopefully produce an acceptable deviation card, or to repeat the cycle of correction and checking. Small vessel compasses ave less ability to be corected and small vessels usually ccan be swung without a tug.
 
Interesting to hear how it is done in ships, my only experience is with aircraft (though never actually doing the calculations).
I remember in the mid 80s trying to compass swing an S61 at Aberdeen. After a few turns on the compass base heads were being scratched, as the readings really made no sense. It was only when someone realised that the Trident recently parked nearby at the end of its days may be having a significant effect that the mystery was solved. It was towed away for the fire brigade to destroy elsewhere.
 
2cv said:
A few anomalies here:
The passing jet is very unlikely to be able to give a fix.
VORs and NDBs are often so far apart in Africa that large areas are outside their coverage to a light aircraft.
Decca was switched off in 2001.
Apart from this, it should be perfectly possible to navigate in Africa using dead reckoning as has been used since the beginning of aviation (see Alex Henshaw's Flight of the Mew Gull for example), though no doubt GPS is a great help!
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Absolutely, all this talk of Decca, VOR, NDB, TACAN, GPS takes all the fun out of navigation. Every Navigator is trained in the use of D.R. (Dead Reckoning) Navigation and in the use of a Sextant. Maps and Compasses should be all that is required. Navigators these days just don't know that they are born (apologies to Monty Python).

My first post-PPL trip cross-country was in a Tiger-Moth, open cockpit, no radio, no electronics, Cranwell to Portsmouth Airport for re-fuelling then a quick hop West across Portsmouth Harbour to HMS Daedalus and all done with 1 map, 1 P10 Compass and a pair of eyes. Simples. The only constraint was that we were to fly overhead our destinations at a couple of thousand feet within +/- 30mins of projected ETA and wait for a green varey flare prior to jolning the circuit.

Worked for us, but it did take a whole week to plan in the evenings, we just joined our point of departure with our destination then bent the straight line to avoid airfields, mink farms, restricted areas and airways and other undsirable areas. The fact that my Co-pilot and I did drink quite alot whilst planning the trip, probably accounted for the time it took to plan. Other odd considerations included the provision of length of landing run dependant upon length of the grass on the landing strip and the wetness of the grass on the landing strip as the Tiger-Moth had no brakes just a tail skid, snow or ice covered grass was to be avoided if a short landing run was all that was available!

Those were the days....

Captain Biggles :plane:
 
T4a

Tracks for Africa (T4A) and an old Garmin 276 is perfectly adequate for the majority of the centre & east coast of Africa.
Paper back up map is a good for safety.
 
A few years ago when I was regular skydiver my local club bought a sat nav for our Cessna 182. The pilot had been playing with it in his car all week and was most impressed with it. I was on the first lift we used it and we could not see the ground. This is strictly against British Parachute Association rules.Anyway pilot said OK off you go we are over the drop zone. Like numpties we all got out and when we came through the cloud we were miles away from the DZ.I suppose some would say you have to be a bit of a numpty to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft.I don't half miss it sometimes.
 
France used to do my head in till some nice personage told me the meaning of Touts Directions
 
I only said I was putting a Compass in the Van to help me get out of Paris,but now have the Knowledge to fly from Paris across Africa with the help of and passing Jumbo jet pilot or camel train driver.
Thanks one and all,"But I only wanted to blow the blo**y doors off"!!!

Happy New Year.

Snowbirds.:baby:
 
snowbirds said:
Hi Anne,

It took me 20 years to work it out.

Snowbirds.
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I took my Triumph 500 Speed Twin motorcycle to Germany when I was posted there in 1966. I was genuinely surprised for a while at the number of small towns called 'Umleitung'!
John
 
Reading simplyloco's post reminded me, when I worked for a very large American Co one of the vice presidents was over, after traveling for a few hours on a German autobahn he said "Man I thought we had some big cities in the states, but this Ausfahrt is something else" :lol-053:
 
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