Cruiser73 Posted April 12 Report Posted April 12 Yesterday while flying with a safety pilot to practice a few approaches, ATC gave me vector of 020. I turned to 020 and a few minutes later he called to confirm I was on 020. I doubled checked my heading indicator to my compass and my safety pilot agreed we were on 020. The control asked if we were fighting a wind because he said it looks like my heading was more like 040. My safety pilot then turned on AHRS on his iPad and confirmed we were on 040 heading. Question can a compass fail like this? Quote
hammdo Posted April 12 Report Posted April 12 Magnetic Interference can do that or magnetism of the roll cage in the Mooney. Sometimes laying the iPad/phone on the dash can do that also… -Don Quote
Cruiser73 Posted April 13 Author Report Posted April 13 1 hour ago, hammdo said: Magnetic Interference can do that or magnetism of the roll cage in the Mooney. Sometimes laying the iPad/phone on the dash can do that also… -Don I read about servicing a whiskey compass but it seems it is done for leaking or slow turning. Should I have mine serviced or look for magnetic interference? Quote
EricJ Posted April 13 Report Posted April 13 19 minutes ago, Cruiser73 said: I read about servicing a whiskey compass but it seems it is done for leaking or slow turning. Should I have mine serviced or look for magnetic interference? Has anything changed in the airplane that might have cause this? e.g., a new radio, different alternator, new display, etc.? If not something may have gotten magnetized, particularly if the center bar in your windscreen is steel rather than stainless. If so, you may be able to find somebody to run a demagnetizer around it and improve things that way. If that doesn't work you may want to get somebody to re-swing the compass, which adjusts it to try to get it back close to accurate. Quote
201er Posted April 13 Report Posted April 13 It would make sense to check on the ground against known runway direction prior to takeoff before jumping to any conclusions. 3 Quote
EricJ Posted April 13 Report Posted April 13 1 hour ago, 201er said: It would make sense to check on the ground against known runway direction prior to takeoff before jumping to any conclusions. With engine and electronics off, and then on. 1 Quote
Cruiser73 Posted April 13 Author Report Posted April 13 18 hours ago, 201er said: It would make sense to check on the ground against known runway direction prior to takeoff before jumping to any conclusions. Thanks everyone for the good advice. Nothing has changed in the panel years but iwill definitely check it on the ground with and without the engine on. 1 Quote
EricJ Posted April 14 Report Posted April 14 4 hours ago, Cruiser73 said: Thanks everyone for the good advice. Nothing has changed in the panel years but iwill definitely check it on the ground with and without the engine on. Switching the radios/electronics on/off may be more important than the engine. The master will turn the alternator off. Quote
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