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Still have a compass?



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 20th 13, 06:00 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Still have a compass?

So your owner's manual states a mechanical compass is required as minimum equipment. Fact is the sailplane has three GPS sources all with separate batteries. Has anyone been extended a "pass" by a FAA inspector on this?

If you license your sailplane experimental...would the FAA still insist the sailplane have a mechanical compass?

A liquid-filled ball compass with a suction cup meets the requirement as written but certainly not as intended.
  #2  
Old November 20th 13, 06:05 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tony[_5_]
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Default Still have a compass?

On Wednesday, November 20, 2013 11:00:25 AM UTC-6, wrote:
So your owner's manual states a mechanical compass is required as minimum equipment. Fact is the sailplane has three GPS sources all with separate batteries. Has anyone been extended a "pass" by a FAA inspector on this?



If you license your sailplane experimental...would the FAA still insist the sailplane have a mechanical compass?



A liquid-filled ball compass with a suction cup meets the requirement as written but certainly not as intended.


depends on what experimental category and how the operating limitations are written. I no longer have a compass in the Cherokee as the operating limitations don't require one. The NG-1 has one mostly because I don't have anything better to put in that spot and you can't see it anyway because the stick is in the way. The Cirrus does, since I'm pretty sure the manual requires it.

I don't think that the FAA considers anything on a suction cup to be "installed" and i'm pretty sure they require required equipment to be "installed", like with nuts and bolts and stuff so at least some effort is required to remove it.
  #3  
Old November 20th 13, 07:02 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
kirk.stant
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Default Still have a compass?

I doubt if any FAA inspector would give a "pass" on this, regardless of how useless a compass is in a glider these days. That being said, I mounted and flew with a nice little PZL compass in my LS6 for 12 years - and never looked at it other than for entertainment - until I needed a good place to locate my PowerFlarm butterfly display on the panel.

The compass was gone in less than 30 seconds....

Now, I could mount it back on the top of the panel, right where the towplane sits on tow, but I prefer to see out at potential threats rather than watch numbers float by.

So I keep the little guy in my vehicle, ready to be quickly stuck in the cockpit somewhere if roaming FAA guys are seen...

Kirk
66
  #4  
Old November 20th 13, 09:43 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Craig Funston[_2_]
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Default Still have a compass?

Possible elimination of both the steam compass and altimeter in your panel. Many of us already have both these functions as part of a vario / flight computer system. https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod148289.html
Craig
  #6  
Old November 20th 13, 10:46 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tony[_5_]
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Default Still have a compass?

91.205 also doesn't apply to gliders
  #7  
Old November 20th 13, 11:09 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Burt Compton - Marfa
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Default Still have a compass?

On Wednesday, November 20, 2013 3:46:52 PM UTC-6, Tony wrote:
91.205 also doesn't apply to gliders


Correct.
However, an FAA Inspector conducting a "ramp check" a/k/a "surveillance" in FAA speak may not recall this exception (that 91.205 applies to "powered aircraft".)

I've been ramp checked (friendly) a couple of times over the decades and what an Inspector who is not familiar with gliders may look for is a wet compass and the "compass correction card."

Other items are the weight and balance placards that have been rubbed off the cockpit side walls by your knees, the "TSO tags" on your seat belts and your parachute repack card. Some will look for the no-longer-required external data plate. Further, unless stated in your factory flight manual, the flight manual is not required to be onboard -- that's for airplanes and rotorcraft. Back to the factory flight manual -- what it states as required equipment may apply.

Interpretations may vary with FSDO's.
If ramp checked, be polite, especially when they ask for your medical certificate (USA.)
Consider investing in a good canopy cover!

"FAR part 61 shows how you earn your pilot certificate. Part 91 is how they might take it away."

Hope to see you at the SSA Convention in Reno, FEB 25 - March 1, 2014!
  #8  
Old November 21st 13, 12:16 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Still have a compass?

The Discus 2 only needs a compas for cloud flying per the manual.
Glen
  #9  
Old November 21st 13, 12:48 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tony V
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Default Still have a compass?

On 11/20/2013 5:09 PM, Burt Compton - Marfa wrote:

I've been ramp checked (friendly) a couple of times over the decades and what an Inspector who is not familiar with gliders may look for is a wet compass and the "compass correction card."


On one of my glider's annuals, the A&P noted that the compass correction
card was missing. So, he made one up - literally.

Tony LS6-b

  #10  
Old November 21st 13, 01:37 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Still have a compass?

Thanks Burt for your input.So a "courtesy" inspection finds no compass and you get written up. What would a "ticket" involve?

Is it feasible to get a waiver from the FAA on the no compass issue?
 




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