North-Up versus Direction-Up?

Ramy wrote:
Obviously from this discussion it is just a matter of preference or
what you used to. But one advantage to North Up which I didn't see
mentioned so far is that your moving map does not move around all the
time, especially when thermaling. Even with the north up thermaling
option Paul mentioned, it means the map will switch back and forth
between north up and track up when thermaling, which must be more
confusing then having a constant orientation.

I and most pilots are very familiar with the North up map, because it's
the way we look at maps most of the time for most of our lives. The PDA
map also has a the goal line on it, so it's obvious which way the flight
is going, even in North up. So, North up isn't confusing.

Track Up when flying isn't confusing, because what I can see on the map
is what I see out the window. Easy.

If you haven't flown with a Track up map, it will likely be confusing
for a few flights. It will take a while for your brain to stop
translating what it sees as a North Up map, but it'll learn.

I didn't choose Track up because it was easier to identify what was
ahead (though it is). There wasn't much to identify with the early units
- just circles for the airports, no rivers, etc. I initially did it
because I wanted the maximum amount of real estate displayed ahead of
the glider on the small PDA screen.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* Updated! "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* New Jan '08 - sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org