A lot of people seem to be baffled by the compass and where they are going. Here's a try at showing how to.set the darn thing.
Mind you, I'm no expert, I made it work like this for me and that's it. I just hope it helps anyone interested.......
First of all, we see the compass like this on start up:
Now move the course setter in such a way that the train tracks (the yellow lines) line up with the white needle with the crossbar (the north side of the train track should point to the crossbarred white line). In this case I needed to decrease the course setter.
On the screen somewhere in the info window you will see the degrees counting up or down. Read the last line of degrees (in this example its 252) and set that in the Directional gyro.
Again you will have to up or down the degrees until it reaches the just found setting. In this case 252
You are ready now. Fly on the Directional Gyro, but be aware the DG is quickly off. So repeat this procedure once every 10-15 minutes or after violent moves. Make sure the compass (the magnetic one) is steady before doing this, so trim your aircraft.
I hope this helps people.
Originally posted by a kind chap called Bando and resurected from the archives, haven't seen him around for a while though. Anyway, while this gives me a better idea of how to use the compass, I'm still not sure how much this helps me, unless I am given a heading by someone either over the radio or in my breifing.
Can any of you more experienced pilots share your navigation tips, I know you blue guys have a homing pidgeons instinct that helps you find Hawkinge(!)
but for instance (as was mentioned in another thread) what would you do in bad weather to find your way back to base or to your target etc.......?