Author Topic: compasses  (Read 714 times)

Offline Cobra412

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1393
compasses
« Reply #15 on: November 11, 2004, 04:35:51 AM »
Spitfire I'm curious but since when is a DG system calibrated to your magnetic compass?  

Considering a DG system is calibrated using a compass rose and is only recalibrated when either the Magnetic Azimuth Detector is removed and replaced,  Major structural changes in the area of the MAD or the compensator assembly fails and requires replacement.

You may slave your card to the magnetic compass but you surely aren't calibrating it.  That's the whole point of having both of these seperate instruments.  It's so you have 2 independent systems working at the same time.  Calibration of the whiskey compass and the DG system are two entirely different jobs.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2004, 04:38:37 AM by Cobra412 »

Offline Straiga

  • Copper Member
  • **
  • Posts: 205
compasses
« Reply #16 on: November 14, 2004, 07:31:21 PM »
Casca,
 Your right , now that I look at it closer its is an RMI with a DME.

Offline Casca

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 353
compasses
« Reply #17 on: November 15, 2004, 12:36:41 PM »
A DG (Directional Gyro) can be either slaved to a remote device or be what's called a free gyro.  The majority of DGs are free gyros.  Free gyros are set to the magnetic heading prior to take off and every 15 minutes or so thereafter due to their tendency to precess (drift off heading).  If we want to split hairs the compass heading is not necessarily the magnetic heading, but the magnetic heading uncorrected for deviation (local magnetic disturbances in the aircraft).  The compass heading is converted to the magnetic heading by referring to the compass correction card (which is required by FARs). The reason to have a DG is to provide a reliable and instantaneous indication of heading change.

To further murk the waters, DGs up until the 60s or so were not normally vertical presentations.  They were horizontal (like a big compass card).  I had one once in a 1964 Mooney and it was a pain because you had to do all the math in your head.

To get back to the point of the thread, the second vertical instrument in AH II looks like an ADF (Automatic Direction Finder).  In an ADF the needle points to an NDB (non directional beacon) or a commercial broadcast station.  The needle on an ADF always points to the station so, like the compass in AH II, the indicator in the game works backwards.  If you are flying North (which in the game puts the needle on 0 degrees) and make a 90 degree right turn, the indicator should be on 270 degrees (relative bearing).  

So in AH II we have two instruments; one that looks like a whiskey compass (or early DG in some planes) but doesn't really work like one and the other that looks like an ADF but doesn't really work like one.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2004, 01:58:21 PM by Casca »
I'm Casca and I approved this message.

Offline rshubert

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1462
compasses
« Reply #18 on: November 15, 2004, 04:34:14 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Cobra412


Considering a DG system is calibrated using a compass rose and is only recalibrated when either the Magnetic Azimuth Detector is removed and replaced,  Major structural changes in the area of the MAD or the compensator assembly fails and requires replacement.



Ummm...no.  The DG is adjusted before each flight, as part of the preflight checks.   They are a gyroscopic instrument, and subject to precession, and errors induced when they wind down from operating speed.  The magnetic compass is calibrated (but not adjusted) and a compensating card supplied, showing the number of degrees of error at a given heading.  There is no Magnetic Azimuth Detector (whatever that is) in a Directional Gyro--it's a GYROSCOPE.