Compass turns revisited

"Michael" wrote in message
oups.com...
Some students just don't get math. For them, the mental math required
to figure out how many seconds the turn needs to be is too much to do
while flying under the hood. For others, the jumping around, lead, and
lag of the compass is too difficult to deal with - they prefer to time
the turn, the check the compass only in level flight.

For some reason, despite two 'A' levels in maths, I have brain failure with
my three times table when trying to figure out timed turns. So long as I
take a few seconds to double-check your multiplication, though, and I sanity
check it (e.g. if you're turning 120 degrees it should take less than a
minute, not more) it's not a problem.

I personally belong to the latter camp. I am a strong believer in only
looking at the compass when I know it will be accurate, and using time
for turns when the heading gyro is not available.

Seconded. The two aircraft I spent most of my learning hours in had
compasses that were pretty grim (mainly around North and South, of course)
unless you were flying absolutely straight, which made even checking the DI
a bit of a chore. There wasn't really an alternative to a timed turn if you
wanted to end up pointing even vaguely the right way.

D.

"David Cartwright" wrote in message ...
"Michael" wrote in message
oups.com...
Some students just don't get math. For them, the mental math required
to figure out how many seconds the turn needs to be is too much to do
while flying under the hood. For others, the jumping around, lead, and
lag of the compass is too difficult to deal with - they prefer to time
the turn, the check the compass only in level flight.

For some reason, despite two 'A' levels in maths, I have brain failure with my three times table when trying
to figure out timed turns. So long as I take a few seconds to double-check your multiplication, though, and I
sanity check it (e.g. if you're turning 120 degrees it should take less than a minute, not more) it's not a
problem.


I think its easier just to do it on the dg (or even an obs if your dg has failed and is covered up)-- as
Gardner said, count 10 seconds per "numbered" heading, even if it means putting your finger physically on the
numbers as you count from your current heading to your desired heading...

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 03:21:03 GMT, "John Clonts"
wrote:

I think its easier just to do it on the dg (or even an obs if your dg has failed and is covered up)-- as
Gardner said, count 10 seconds per "numbered" heading, even if it means putting your finger physically on the
numbers as you count from your current heading to your desired heading...

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ


Excuse me, but my irrepressible ego requires me to point out that it
was I who suggested this technique to Mr Gardner, as an alternative
to doing mental arithmetic.

wrote in message ...


Excuse me, but my irrepressible ego requires me to point out that it
was I who suggested this technique to Mr Gardner, as an alternative
to doing mental arithmetic.


Sorry about that...

I think its easier just to do it on the dg (or even an obs if your dg
has failed and is covered up)-- as
Gardner said, count 10 seconds per "numbered" heading, even if it
means putting your finger physically on the
numbers as you count from your current heading to your desired
heading...

Yeah, that works great unless you have a barrel DG (or the DG is
covered) and an indicator without full view of the numbers. I've flown
IFR in such planes.

Michael

"Michael" wrote in message
oups.com...
I think its easier just to do it on the dg (or even an obs if your dg
has failed and is covered up)-- as
Gardner said, count 10 seconds per "numbered" heading, even if it
means putting your finger physically on the
numbers as you count from your current heading to your desired
heading...

Yeah, that works great unless you have a barrel DG (or the DG is
covered) and an indicator without full view of the numbers. I've flown
IFR in such planes.

Michael


Have you ever flown a plane with OBS's that were designed where you couldn't see most of the numbers around the
perimeter of it? I haven't, but I have seen such on a MS Flight Sim panel for a C210 that I got... It drives
my crazy since it pretty much thwarts the "VOR as a Quadrature Instrument" approach, and other visualizations
that you can otherwise do on the OBS! I have not seen any on the market currently. I wonder during what
years--and by whom--were they manufactured?

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

John Clonts wrote:
Have you ever flown a plane with OBS's that were designed where you
couldn't see most of the numbers around the
perimeter of it?

Yes, that's one kind I referred to. In fact, I once had to train a
student whose airplane was so equipped. I believe his CDI's were
Garmin and some model of Narco, but I could be wrong.

There are also others (Terra, Bendix 2000) that are digital - you dial
in the radial on a display rather than have a mechanical ring.

Michael

I agree. It also reinforces the direction in which you should be turning
and about how far when your in a panic and lose situational awareness. When
my CFII pointed out this technique, it was a godsend. I can do the math and
was pretty good with timed turns, but it was a nice tool to double check and
speed the process.

Bob


"John Clonts" wrote in message
...

"David Cartwright" wrote in message
...
"Michael" wrote in message
oups.com...
Some students just don't get math. For them, the mental math required
to figure out how many seconds the turn needs to be is too much to do
while flying under the hood. For others, the jumping around, lead, and
lag of the compass is too difficult to deal with - they prefer to time
the turn, the check the compass only in level flight.

For some reason, despite two 'A' levels in maths, I have brain failure
with my three times table when trying to figure out timed turns. So long
as I take a few seconds to double-check your multiplication, though, and
I sanity check it (e.g. if you're turning 120 degrees it should take less
than a minute, not more) it's not a problem.


I think its easier just to do it on the dg (or even an obs if your dg has
failed and is covered up)-- as Gardner said, count 10 seconds per
"numbered" heading, even if it means putting your finger physically on the
numbers as you count from your current heading to your desired heading...

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ