Mxsmanic wrote:
Like AM radio, magnetic headings are still with us, even though
navigation in general has advanced by leaps and bounds. When will
true headings be used? The magnetic poles are in continuous motion;
the rotational poles are stable.

Eventually, the magnetic poles will move so far that every station and
aircraft everywhere will have to be recalibrated to account for it,
and all charts will have to be changed. And the poles occasionally
reverse, which would also be somewhat of a disaster for
magnetically-based aviation.


So what instrument would you suggest we use for true headings? GPS does
not give you true heading; it can only give a true course. You can't
reliably use a GPS for verifying your runway heading. GPS headings only
work when you are in motion. Remember the Comair accident? I suspect
such accidents will increase if we switch to GPS based true headings.

Your suggestion will only work if we install gigantic beacons at the
true poles which everyone can navigate by. At present mother nature has
given us such a beacon, albeit a less than perfect one.