Posted on 08/29/2006 4:28:54 PM PDT by Clive
No, in fact some aircraft aren't even typed with a wet compass.
They do have redundant slaved systems however and in many cases as I believe is the case with the CRJ is an inertial reference system as a third backup.
Prayers for all the families and the lone survivor.
Thanks for that post. It's good to hear from folks who can straighten out the mistakes of the press. Maybe this will result in a review of staffing requirements at smaller airports.
"Ummm. - Aligning the DG to the mag compass and verifying RW heading with the mag compass isn't done anymore?"
Doesn't look like its 100%.
The pilot had his head up his a$$. The copilot wasn't backing him up. Any way you slice it, he should have known he was crossing a runway BEFORE he got to the duty. While nice, an extra controller would have been in the tower, not the cockpit where his SA would have been helpful. This isn't a controller issue or a Tower manning issue. How many takeoffs have been accomplished from LEX with the same manning? In the dark, the Tower MAY have seen the AC line up, more likely start his takeoff roll, in time to call an abort over Guard since the AC was up departure. As bad as this crew was, they probably weren't monitoring Guard. Hundreds of thousands of takeoffs and landings are accomplished yearly by tens of thousands of pilots without Tower intervention. Tower guys don't fly.
If they made a rolling takeoff, that is advanced the throttles as they turned onto the runway, the compass would be useless to check. A compass is not accurate when accelerating or decelerating. It will indicate a turn and slightly wrong heading. A compass can only be used in stable flight. Of course, there are other instruments that are not affected by acceleration or deceleration that can be used to check the heading of the aircraft. However I just wanted to point out that a compass is not accurate in these conditions. This question is asked in many variations in every private pilot check ride and written test.
Pilots are taught early in their training to set the directional gyro against the compass when on the ramp before taxiing and periodically while in the air and while the aircraft is moving straight and level.
Then the pilot uses the direction indicator to maintain his headings.
A more modern approach is to use a flux gate system that directly senses the earth's magnetic field and adjusts the direction indicator accordingly. (This is an over-simplification.)
Either way, the pilot would rely on a direction indicator, not on a compass.
I'll bet you've got some great "sea stories".
Ya think?
The concept of checking the assigned RW with ship equipment is universally valid.
I never do a rolling takeoff unless I have already verified heading on the taxiway before rolling onto that RW, and that is pretty basic. - I teach all of my students this.
Yes, I'm an instructor. - And while not rated in this type, I know the limitations of the Whiskey compass. 8^)
They said they reconfigured the runways on the national news, so if it is not true, they gave false facts (another first!).
There but for the grace of God....
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