Do you use your magnetic compass?

Apparently, it's long overdue. The last pole reversal was about 700,000
years ago. But pole reversals are supposed to happen every 250,000 years or
so.

So it could happen any day now...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/reversals.html


Cub Driver wrote in
news

Actually, according to the discovery channel, the earth's poles are
weakening, and will ultimately reverse polarity...

When should we start worrying about this, in 500 or 50,000 years?

And will it come before or after we are all drowned by rising sea
levels?

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

Dan...

I'm so disappointed... You actually use a GPS in a Cub...
Blastphemy!!!!

John Price
CFII/AGI/IGI
http://home.att.net/~jm.price


"Cub Driver" wrote in message
news

I did, last Wednesday

Not long after leaving the airport northbound, the Garmin III+ popped
up a message: Battery Low. Then it went off, and after one more rep it
stayed off. Happily there was not much wind, and the position of the
compass (there is no gyro in the Cub) was well-remembered as between N
and 3 outbound and between S and 16 on the return trip, which enabled
me to go and return with reasonable accuracy. (Viz was about 10 miles
so I couldn't steer by the mountains as I prefer to do.)

It made me realize that it had been a very long time since I'd checked
my progress on the chart.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

On Mon, 17 May 2004 00:52:51 +0000, dgamblin wrote:


The compass has no pumps, batteries, power supplies, and the
earths magnetic field has proven to be very reliable..


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/



Cheers!

On Mon, 17 May 2004 01:13:50 +0000, Judah wrote:

Fortunately, it is estimated that this process will take between a few
years and a few hundred thousand. So while all experts seem to agree that
we are long overdue (it has been about 750,000 years since our last pole
swap, and supposedly it normally occurs about every 300,000), there is a
chance that you will not be required to revitalize your former pastime of
toilet-gazing too soon.

And as long as you have had your compass card upgraded before the process
is complete, it will indeed be a non-event. Just another FAA
Airworthiness Directive to comply with at your next annual...



Actually, there is a geologist that appears to make an argument that the
last time the poles switched, they switched over a period of 6-days, then
back again, and IIRC, switch yet again over some other short period of
time. Current computer models also seem to indicate that the switch can
actually take place in a rather small window of time. In the words of the
geologist (paraphrasing), if such a transition were to happen again, if
you were to closely watch your compass, you could actually watch your
compass follow the changing mangnet poles.

Supposedly, the solar winds, the atmosphere, and the remaining magnetic
fields during this transition may be enough to protect the earth from the
worst of the sun's radiation.

On Mon, 17 May 2004 10:39:05 +0000, Judah wrote:

Apparently, it's long overdue. The last pole reversal was about 700,000
years ago. But pole reversals are supposed to happen every 250,000 years or
so.

So it could happen any day now...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/reversals.html


Dang it...and I thought I'd be the "cool guy" offering that link. I guess
that's what happens when you don't religiously read here.

Cheers!

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Judah" wrote in message
...
Actually, according to the discovery channel, the earth's poles are
weakening, and will ultimately reverse polarity...

Pilots everywhere are going to become very confused very quickly.

Most, though, will be most horrified when their toilet bowl flushes the
wrong
way.

Nope. Flush direction is a rotational thing, not magnetic. Unless you
have
magnetic water?

Although many killjoys like myself know this is an UL, you actually *can*
demonstrate the Coriolis effect in a large bowl of water. But...
http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html

Sure, flush direction is a rotational thing. But it's not an
earth-rotational thing.

-- David Brooks

I'm so disappointed... You actually use a GPS in a Cub...

I wouldn;t leave home without it!

The big problem was where to mount it, given that the Cub is soloed
from the back seat. For the solution (actually, two solutions) see
www.pipercubforum.com/garmin.htm

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

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