iFly GPS Forum

We have a new Forum!  Go here to get started: https://adventurepilot.community.forum.  
The new forum is easier to use and much more capable than the old, we hope you will join our community! 

Below is a copy of the old forum. This will remain available for a short period so you can access and review the information contained here. To continue a conversation, or start a new one, please register and create a post at our new forum location.
HomeHomeDiscussionsDiscussionsiFly General Di...iFly General Di...What are the criteria for calculating headingWhat are the criteria for calculating heading
Previous
 
Next
New Post
10/18/2014 3:55 PM
 

I was hoping to get an initial compass alignment on the ramp from iFly by taxiing a few seconds, and adjusting the aircraft direction until I got magnetic north, then south, east, west, etc. Maybe our ramp just isn't big enough, or maybe I wasn't going fast enough, but I never could get a heading update. This leads to my question: how far must we go to update the calculated heading, and/or how fast must we be going? Or perhaps, what criteria must we meet to update the calculated heading?

 
New Post
10/19/2014 8:15 AM
 
Unless a GPS is tied to a magnetic compass or collects data on actual winds aloft, it does not provide any heading information at all. What it provides is track. "Heading" is what a compass (or correctly set DG or slaved HSI) tells you, Calculating heading from track requires adding or subtracting the wind correction angle. (A friend just bought a new LSA with a Dynon panel. The autopilot has a TRK rather than a HDG button for that very reason).

I doubt iFly does that.

If the question is at what speed does iFly begin to tell you the track, that's an interesting one. It's going to in some what be related to how often GPS position updates and how accurate it needs to be to determine that you are moving.
 
New Post
10/19/2014 9:28 AM
 

Delete

 
New Post
10/19/2014 11:11 AM
 

Evidently I didn't supply enough information on what I was trying to do for it to be clear. First off, yes, an airplane must have a compass, and yes, a GPS does not know what the heading is, it knows what the track was. However, if the aircraft heading is maintained, then the GPS track should be a reasonably accurate representation of the heading.

I've in the final throes of getting a homebuilt ready to fly. In addition to having a compass, the compass needs to be calibrated, errors corrected to the extent practical, and the final error recorded, normally on a little compass card. That's were I am now, The normal way of doing this is to use a compass rose, using north-south and east-west headings for calibration. The airport I'm on doesn't have one, and the nearest is about 100 miles.

Nor do we have n-s or e-w runways or taxiways. So I must look for alternative methods. And, yes, I know one can get a calibration of sorts using other headings. But for technical reasons, it won't be as good for calibration purposes.

My thought was that I would taxi in a fixed direction, and get the track made good data, repeating this until the gps said I had a north going track, align the compass, get a south going track, etc, When I tried this, the gps was unable, over the length of the area in which I could taxi, to develop a track made good. Thus, my question: for the iFly, how far (and perhaps how fast) must I do before I get a track made good?

The iFly does display the current track made good along the top of the screen as though it isa heading, which I agree, it is not really.

 
New Post
10/19/2014 12:51 PM
 

Delete

 
Previous
 
Next
HomeHomeDiscussionsDiscussionsiFly General Di...iFly General Di...What are the criteria for calculating headingWhat are the criteria for calculating heading