Do you use your magnetic compass?

Jay,

The real use of the "whiskey compass" is for when all else has failed
and you are going in. Rip that sucker off, crack it open, and chug
your last shot...

Dean

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:IXppc.15719$6f5.1334133@attbi_s54...
Am I being overly compulsive about this?

Maybe. Although I still religiously set the DG to the compass in flight,
it's more from habit than from need.

I've got two moving map GPSs, two VORs, DME, and the road grids to navigate
with -- any one of which is far more accurate than my whisky compass. And
the odds of losing all of those tools (including battery back-ups) are
almost nil.

"Dean Wilkinson" wrote in message
m...
Jay,

The real use of the "whiskey compass" is for when all else has failed
and you are going in. Rip that sucker off, crack it open, and chug
your last shot...


You do know that the thing is filled with kerosene, don't you?

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Dean Wilkinson" wrote in message
m...
Jay,

The real use of the "whiskey compass" is for when all else has failed
and you are going in. Rip that sucker off, crack it open, and chug
your last shot...


You do know that the thing is filled with kerosene, don't you?



Ok, so make it a "Flaming Shot!"

gdr

Jay B

C.J. Campbell wrote:
You do know that the thing is filled with kerosene, don't you?

Yes, of course. Its still a good joke...

Dean

C.J.

Didn't used to be. Why do you think they call them a "Whiskey
Compass"?

Big John


On Mon, 17 May 2004 20:10:22 -0700, "C J Campbell"
wrote:


"Dean Wilkinson" wrote in message
om...
Jay,

The real use of the "whiskey compass" is for when all else has failed
and you are going in. Rip that sucker off, crack it open, and chug
your last shot...


You do know that the thing is filled with kerosene, don't you?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:IXppc.15719$6f5.1334133@attbi_s54...
Am I being overly compulsive about this?

Maybe. Although I still religiously set the DG to the compass in flight,
it's more from habit than from need.

I've got two moving map GPSs, two VORs, DME, and the road grids to navigate
with -- any one of which is far more accurate than my whisky compass. And
the odds of losing all of those tools (including battery back-ups) are
almost nil.

Jay
Not to be disparaging by any means, but I've seen total electrical
equipment failure at least twice while IFR, and a few times while VFR.
I learned the use of the wet compass early in my flying career...it
was demanded by my old crusty CFI, and it has worked well to keep me
out of trouble in remote places. It has gotten me back on the ground
right side up in a Pawnee when I inadvertantly ran into early fog in
Louisiana back in the mid 60's. That was when I incorporated the use
of what I called Primitive Panel for training with all my following
Instrument students.
I even had to learn use of a sun compass in addition to all the rest
of the gages when flying up north. Yep there is still plenty of use
for the old wet compass all the new gadgets notwithstanding.
Best Regards
Flyinrock

Rocky wrote:

I've got two moving map GPSs, two VORs, DME, and the road grids to navigate
with -- any one of which is far more accurate than my whisky compass. And
the odds of losing all of those tools (including battery back-ups) are
almost nil.

Not to be disparaging by any means, but I've seen total electrical
equipment failure at least twice while IFR, and a few times while VFR.
I learned the use of the wet compass early in my flying career...it
was demanded by my old crusty CFI, and it has worked well to keep me
out of trouble in remote places. It has gotten me back on the ground
right side up in a Pawnee when I inadvertantly ran into early fog in
Louisiana back in the mid 60's. That was when I incorporated the use
of what I called Primitive Panel for training with all my following
Instrument students.
I even had to learn use of a sun compass in addition to all the rest
of the gages when flying up north. Yep there is still plenty of use
for the old wet compass all the new gadgets notwithstanding.

More significantly, when ATC gives you IFR vectors, they are at least trying
to take wind into account. If approach says "fly heading 250, vectors,
traffic" in strong winds and a slow plane, they might actually want you on a
*track* of anywhere between 220 and 280.

I agree with the original poster that it's unlikely that you'd have an
electrical failure (for the panel instruments) *and* a GPS outage (for the
handheld) at the same time, but it is still worth noting that there is just
one level of redundancy there, since everything but the handheld GPS depends
on the same electrical system.


All the best,


David

David Megginson wrote in message t.cable.rogers.com...
Rocky wrote:

I've got two moving map GPSs, two VORs, DME, and the road grids to navigate
with -- any one of which is far more accurate than my whisky compass. And
the odds of losing all of those tools (including battery back-ups) are
almost nil.

Not to be disparaging by any means, but I've seen total electrical
equipment failure at least twice while IFR, and a few times while VFR.
I learned the use of the wet compass early in my flying career...it
was demanded by my old crusty CFI, and it has worked well to keep me
out of trouble in remote places. It has gotten me back on the ground
right side up in a Pawnee when I inadvertantly ran into early fog in
Louisiana back in the mid 60's. That was when I incorporated the use
of what I called Primitive Panel for training with all my following
Instrument students.
I even had to learn use of a sun compass in addition to all the rest
of the gages when flying up north. Yep there is still plenty of use
for the old wet compass all the new gadgets notwithstanding.

More significantly, when ATC gives you IFR vectors, they are at least trying
to take wind into account. If approach says "fly heading 250, vectors,
traffic" in strong winds and a slow plane, they might actually want you on a
*track* of anywhere between 220 and 280.

I agree with the original poster that it's unlikely that you'd have an
electrical failure (for the panel instruments) *and* a GPS outage (for the
handheld) at the same time, but it is still worth noting that there is just
one level of redundancy there, since everything but the handheld GPS depends
on the same electrical system.


All the best,


David
Can't argue with your post. All I can rely on is my own experience
gained in the last 45 years puttin around the world in remote areas
with some fancy, and some simple equipment. Much of the time I had to
rely on compass and eyeballs while making my own maps. A large part of
territory was marked UNSURVEYED on the map with a light green blank
tint.....
Now I wonder how in the world we ever got along without GPS but I can
still put my finger on the map and say, "We are right HERE".
While not exactly on topic, but very related, was the disappointing
ability of many US pilots who came to fly for me in remote areas, to
navigate without all the fancy electronic equipment we have here in
the USA. There wasn't much room for error out there and none of us
wanted to spend a lot of effort trying to find someone who couldn't
read a map or use a compass, or fly their plan. It appears that is
getting worse instead of better with reliance on avionics as opposed
to gray matter.
Cheers
Ol Shy & Bashful

Roger Long wrote:

Are these casual attitudes towards compass accuracy I'm encountering common?

I've found that the CFIs who have flown with me tend to assume that the compass is
very accurate. If I turn 90 degrees and the compass and DG don't agree, they assume a
problem in the vacuum system. Mechanics, on the other hand, seem to have the idea
that 15 or 20 degrees of error is ok. None of them want the job of swinging the
compass properly on a taildragger.

Now, I haven't asked very many mechanics to do this. After striking out a couple of
times, I just started resetting the DG to the ground track on my LORAN on long trips.

By the way, my compass inaccuracies are caused by adding all the avionics without
re-swinging the compass.

George Patterson
I childproofed my house, but they *still* get in.

In article ,
Roger Long om wrote:
A club member has asked me why we spent money to have a 14 degree error
removed from our compass since it is just a back up instrument if everything
else quits.

Not for an NDB approach! Oh, wait, an NDB approach is a backup if
everything else quits. ;-)

A couple of 360 in our 172 to look at something on the ground will
put our DG 15 -20 degrees off and it drifts about that much each hour.

I've flown behind DGs that bad, but most hold heading better than that.

An A&P I asked in another forum said he hopes his customers don't expect him
to get the compass closer than about 10 degrees. Our shop says 10 degrees
is what is allowed.

I asked about this on rec.aviation.ifr and not many people said they
used the correction card. I've only used it on the ground to assure
myself that it was mostly small 1-2 degree errors so I could ignore it
in flight.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/