1. Uncontrolled copy not subject to amendment
AIR NAVIGATION
Part 4
COMPASSES
Version 1.01

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES On completion of this unit, you should:
Be able to carry out calculations to determine aircraft distance, speed and time
Understand the principles of vectors and the triangle of velocities to establish an aircraft’s track and ground speed

3. LEARNING OUTCOMES Understand the principles of the 1 in 60 rule
Understand the types of compass systems used for air navigation, how they work and their limitations
Know the hazards that weather presents to aviation

4. Introduction

5. You will have learnt about the difference between
and YOU WILL HAVE GOT LOST using the Silva, a simple hand held compass
TRUE NORTH
MAGNETIC NORTH

6. To understand aircraft
compasses, their strengths and weaknesses we need to look into the
subject a little deeper

7. Shape of the magnetic field around a magnet
The first thing you need to understand is the
shape of the magnetic field around a magnet

8. The Earth’s magnetic field, follows the same pattern as the field
round a bar magnet but needs a little explaining

9. The red end of a magnet (known as the North Pole) is in fact a north-seeking pole
Therefore, as opposites attract it can be seen that if the red end of our compass needle is to point to the North Magnetic Pole
then in reality the North Magnetic Pole must, in magnetic terms be a south pole

10. At our latitude, the lines of force point down at an angle (known as the angle of dip) of 65º; once the angle exceeds 75º (which occurs about 1200 miles from the Poles) the directional force becomes so weak as to render magnetic compasses virtually useless.
Looking at the diagram on the left the lines of force are only parallel to the surface of the Earth at the Equator. Indeed, at the poles the lines of force are vertical!
A compass needle will try to follow the lines of force but is constrained by the construction to stay almost horizontal The end result of this is that the more vertical the Earth’s field, the weaker the directional force on the horizontal compass needle becomes.

11. We will now look at Aircraft Compasses
There are 2 main types

12. In an aircraft, the simplest form of compass is the Direct Indicating Compass
(shown right), which looks very similar to the car compass, which can be bought
from accessory shops. N 33 30

13. N 33 30

14. The Direct Indicating Compass
The points of the compass are printed around the equator of the ball, & the heading is shown against an index mark on the bowl. The magnet is hidden in the ball.
The Direct Indicating Compass (DIC), like the hand held Silva compass, has a magnet suspended in liquid, which helps to dampen any movement
It has the appearance of a squash ball inside a goldfish bowl.
on gliders the compass is on the cockpit coming

15. The Direct Indicating Compass
The DIC has several serious limitations, so it is normally used as a standby
Those limitations are:

16. The Suspended Magnet Will Only Give A Correct Reading In Steady Straight & Level Flight. During Turns & Acceleration The Magnet Is Swung To One Side And Gives False Readings

17. The DIC is located in the cockpit, and there it is affected by the
magnetic fields emanating from both the metal the aircraft is made from
and from the various electrical circuits in the aircraft. These other
magnetic fields badly affect the accuracy of the DIC.

18. The driving power of the horizontal portion of the Earth’s
magnetic field is only strong enough to turn a compass needle; it does
not have sufficient torque to drive repeaters at other crew positions in
the aircraft

19. The DIC only indicates magnetic heading, modern aircraft may
require True or Grid headings

20. At high magnetic latitudes (above 70º North or South) the DIC
becomes sluggish and unreliable because the angle of dip is so steep
and the directional force is so weak.

21. It is very simple and therefore reliable
Advantages of the DIC
It is very simple and therefore reliable
It is very cheap and lightweight
It does not require any form of power and so will continue to work even after a total power failure in the aircraft.

22. To overcome the limitations of the DIC, the Gyro Magnetic Compass was invented

23. It’s made up of the following components:
Gyro Magnetic Compass
It’s made up of the following components:

24. A Magnetic Detector Unit, which electrically senses the direction of Earth’s magnetic field and is normally situated in the wing tip

25. of any manoeuvres the aircraft may make
A Gyroscope, which continues to point to a fixed point in space, regardless
of any manoeuvres the aircraft may make
FRAME
ROTOR
Y AXIS
Z AXIS
A gyroscope

26. Z AXIS
FRAME
ROTOR
A gyroscope
Y AXIS

27. An Error Detector that senses any difference between the gyro and magnetic headings and applies a correction to the gyro at a pre-set rate

28. rotation of the Earth and the aircrafts flight path around the Earth
A controller or computer that applies corrections to the gyro to correct for the
rotation of the Earth and the aircrafts flight path around the Earth

29. A display or displays to show the aircraft heading at required positions in the aircraft.
Various amplifiers and motors to control the system and in some GMCs a roll cut out switch to minimise the effect of a turn on the Magnetic Detector Unit

30. The basic principle of the GMC is that it uses the long-term accuracy of the detector unit combined with the short-term accuracy of the gyro.

31. magnetic detector, which is correct during straight and level flight
and is more accurate
than the DIC because being situated in the wing it is less affected by the deviating forces from other extraneous magnetic fields in the aircraft
What this means is
that the gyro, which is connected to the compass, is constantly corrected by the
magnetic detector, which is correct during straight and level flight

32. (which is unaffected by turns) is more accurate
If a roll cut out switch is used no error is fed from the magnetic detector to the gyro in the turn, if a roll cut out is not present, the error correction rate is low enough to only make a small effect which is removed when the wings are levelled
During a turn, the gyro
(which is unaffected by turns) is more accurate

33. A gyro magnetic system has considerably more torque than a DIC and can therefore provide outputs to repeater units in other positions in an aircraft and/or computers in the aircraft. The output to these repeaters can be easily modified so that they can display either true or magnetic heading

34. As the gyroscope is a manufactured item, it cannot be perfect
Gyro Errors
To overcome this the gmc has developed as a system where the gyro heading can be relied on for short period ( about 10 minutes )
As the gyroscope is a manufactured item, it cannot be perfect
Over a period of time it will become inaccurate ( this is called gyro wander ).
It can then be reset by reference to the magnetic detector

35. Inertial Navigation, GPS and Beyond
Throughout the UK the variation errors on maps & charts are reasonably accurate, but if we go into polar regions we face 2 problems

36. Problem 1
Variation values are unreliable and as large as 180 degrees between true & magnets poles
TRUE
NORTH
MAGNETIC

37. Problem 2
The second problem is that as the compass nears the magnetic pole the compass detector will try to point at it. this is called dip.

38. The Inertial Navigation System (INS) eliminates this problem and can
A modern aircraft with a heading error of one degree can easily have position errors in the order of 6 miles/hour, which nowadays is not
acceptable.
The Inertial Navigation System (INS) eliminates this problem and can
align itself with True North without the need for variation

39. A typical inertial navigation system can achieve positional accuracies of one mile/hour. Whilst this accuracy may appear good, it is still a long way short of the latest development in navigation
technology.

40. Global Positioning System (GPS), can
Using Ring Laser Gyros or Fibre Optical Gyros to feed an Inertial Reference System, which is paired with a
Global Positioning System (GPS), can
produce a position, which is accurate to within 5 metres
The ultimate aim is to
achieve millimetre accuracy, we are not there yet, but it will happen.