DIRECTION- That is what we all need in life! I remember as a new student pilot the confusion cause by that “HEADING INDICATOR.” Hey, I knew there were 360 degrees in a circle. What I had trouble with was to view myself in the middle of that beautiful compass rose on the instrument panel. When I mentally placed myself in the middle of the compass rose I quickly understood and could figure out the runway headings or course I needed to fly. Then I learned the “ADD 200 DEGREES THEN SUBTRACT 20 DEGREES method to figure out the course's reciprocal heading. What truly helped me was at Midway Airport (Chicago), where I learned to fly, they had runways 18 & 36, 4 & 22, 9 & 27, and 13 & 31. Wow! North, Northeast, East, Southeast South, … ..etc. On top of this all the city streets ran North and South and East and West with a big lake on the
East side of the city. How could anyone get lost??? Life down here in Missourah is definitely different. Travelling south of Highway 44 we watch the land change appearance with its rolling hills and lack of major roads. A pilot could maybe actually become slightly well sort of, maybe just a little off the a, the a, yeah the flight plan. Yes that black line from point A that we drew to point B. Well our pilotage skills are always polished up and we all carry current charts, ready, opened on our lap so of course we know where we is at and which direction we is going, Right? No, nowadays we hang on that $800 dollar black box ($400 if you get the Wal-Mart special) that tells us just about everything. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is great! Accuracy to within several feet of the runway. What a great new way to navigate. What I have seen in the last two years in my small aircraft flights is such a reliance on the GPS that pilots are forgetting some basic compass skills. Before starting up the airplane I was taught to set the heading indicator to the WET COMPASS heading. Now as this gyroscopic instrument HEADING INDICATOR spins up to its operating speed (around 10,000 rpms) it is very close to the actual heading of the airplane. After start and while taxiing out I was reminded to check the heading indicator to a known heading of a taxiway or runway. During the engine run up we check the suction/vacuum gauge to ensure a good airflow to run the gyro instruments. Then it was always drilled in me that as I lined up on the runway that I gave the HEADING INDICATOR one last check, along with the wind direction, as I started to add power for take off. I will admit that my knowledge of the GPS usage is limited. But what I have seen is that the "little black box" fails and pilots scrambling to reset, reload info, and even fumble to put new batteries in these navigation aids. Sometimes it seems that we forget that with just a current map and a clean windshield, we can go pretty far West, without that little black box.