Posted on 01/06/2011 2:59:15 PM PST by devane617
Tampa International Airport's main runway is closed for repairs due to changes in the earth's magnetic pull.
"Who over-thought this? And why?" asked one passenger, waiting for a flight.
"It's a joke," said another.
But it's no joke. Runways are aligned according to points on a compass and scientists say the Earth's magnetic North Pole is constantly shifting. That means Tampa's main runway is now six degrees off. The discrepancy could cause pilots to lose their sharp focus.
"When a pilot navigates he needs to find which is the correct runway to land and takeoff on," said Airport Director Robert Burr, "so he uses his compass in his cockpit to orient himself to tell him he's on the correct runway, so they need to line up perfectly."
Scientists say the Earth's magnetic North Pole is shifting about 40 miles a year toward Russia.
The airport will repaint the markings on the runways to account for the shift of Magnetic North.
A shift in the Burmuda Triangle.
“I am sure the dhift is due to government debt.”
Hey, and how can FED fiat debt cause a magnetic shift?
just as likely as global warming!
Are not the compasses in commercial aircraft gyro-compasses? And do they not navigate via gps today? These point to geographic north.
Everyone will suddenly speak with an Aussie accent and have an incredible urge to watch Crocodile Dundee.
Great post with great suggestions.
Not really. Rwy 19 would be on a heading of 190.
Why don’t they just give the pilots a new bearing to align on?
I'm sure they want to maintain the convention that runways be identified by the nearest 10 degree magnetic heading. Of course, that means that there can already be up to 5 degrees of error. But the declination has shifted more than half that amount in Tampa in recent years, so they have to renumber the runways.
I notice that the runways are actually at geographical 1.5 degrees (slightly east of north) according to Google Earth, and they are presently numbered 18/36 L & R, plus 9/27 for the east-west one. That suggests that the declination was only 1.5 degrees many years ago when the airport was built.
I speculate that magnetic north in Tampa has moved 6.5 degrees to the west, making the runways something like 8 degrees off. If this is true, then they will be renumbering the runways 17/1 and 8/26.
But then, I could be all wrong about this.
Its Floriduh of course they slacked on the project.
You are right, 19 degrees is a NNE heading. However Runway 19 would be on a mag heading of 190. A Mag heading of 19 degrees would be runway 2. Left or right has nothing to do with this conversation. Trust me on this one, the runways are numbered in 10 degree increments 36 is north, 18 is south, 9 is east and 27 is west. Fill in the blanks for the rest.
Sorry you are correct they were 18R and 36L and now will be 19R and 1L. 190 from north and 1 from south. If there was a 37 they would fly in circles looking for it....
“Since the 1970’s the Magnetic North Pole has accelerated from less than 10 to more than 30 miles per year”
http://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/Land/earths_magnetism.html
More likely they are flting until exhausted, trying to get magnetic bearings which are no longer there. The poles are about to collapse and then reverse. [Lech Wolenza not whithstanding]
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.