COMPASS DEVIATION AND CORRECTION

Introduction
1. An aircraft contains both hard iron and soft iron giving
rise to permanent and temporary magnetism. 2. The nature of this permanent magnetism depends on: 3. Magnetic heading during construction. 4. The Angle of Dip at the place of construction. 5. Amount of coercive force of the metals used. And 6. Amount of metalwork ( hammering, riveting etc.). Some permanent magnetism can also be set up by radio and radar equipment and other EM materials.

Introduction
Though permanent magnetism can be measured and corrected for, The Induced or temporary magnetism in soft iron components cannot be easily corrected. The reason is the changing nature of the magnetic field components (H and Z) of the Earth. Practically, a pilot needs to know the correction to be applied to the magnetic course to steer with the magnetic compass. This is called deviation correction.

Compass Deviation
The difference between the direction of the horizontal component(H), of the Earths field, & the direction of the horizontal component of the resultant of all the fields at the sensor position, is the DEVIATION ANGLE It is named easterly(+) or westerly (-), depending whether the resultant field direction is to the East or West of the Earths field.The deviation angle varies depending on : The position of the sensor in the aircraft. Aircraft Heading. Geographical position of the aircraft. The passage of time.

Magnetic components
An aircraft structure consists of a number of components capable of being magnetized. Their effects on the magnetic compass can be due to 1. Hard Iron Magnetism: Resulting from permanent and sub-permanent magnetic fields. 2. Soft iron Magnetism: Resulting from transient magnetic fields. Hard Iron Components: Along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, P is a component which is +ve when BLUE POLE IS FORWARD. Along the lateral axis of the aircraft, Q is a component which is +ve when BLUE POLE IS STARBOARD. Along the vertical axis of the aircraft R is a component which is +ve when BLUE POLE IS BELOW.

Magnetic components
Soft Iron Magnetism: The vertical soft iron components are considered where these effects are allied with those of hard iron components P and Q. the fore and aft component is c, and lateral component is f . The combination of Hard Iron with Soft Iron for correction leads us to the Coefficients A, B, and C. Coeff. B is caused by P and c which cause magnetic force P+c. Sine Coeff B = P + c H ( Deviations vary as the sine of the headings).

Coeff C is caused by Q and f which cause magnetic force Q+f. Cosine Coeff C = Q + f H ( Deviations vary as the cosine of the headings).

Magnetic components
Coefficient A is made of two parts: 1. Real A due to HORIZONTAL SOFT IRON which causes a constant deviation on all headings and 2. Apparent A due to mechanical misalignment of the lubber line. Both these effects are compensated by rotating the compass bowl to realign the lubber line.

Total Deviating Forces

AXIS of aircraft
Fore & aft Athwartship Vertical

Deviating Force Hard iron component Soft iron component

P Q R aX, bY & cZ dX, eY & fZ gx, hY & kZ

Magnetism & Compasses

Graphs of devn. Components & total deviation

Total Deviation on a Hdg.

On any compass heading Total devn= A+ B Sin +C Cos +D SIN 2 +E Cos2 Considering only the hard iron effects, the deviation on ANY HDG is: A+ B Sin Hdg +C Cos Hdg.

Deviation Coefficients

Relationship between aircraft magnetism and deviation coefficients

Magnetism & Compasses

Coeff B = Dev E dev W 2

Coeff C = Dev N Dev S 2

Misalignment due to Apparent A is corrected by turning the base of the compass: clockwise for +A.

Compass Swing-1
Correcting Swing: L/C S W N E 184 272 360 088 E2 183 268 353 088 Devn +1 +4 +7 0 Corrected Hdg 180 270 356 086

Coeff C = +7 (1) / 2 = +3 . Coeff B = 0 (4) / 2 = - 2 . The corrected readings are at the end of the column. Turn key anti-clockwise for + deviation.

Compass Swing-2
Check Swing: L/C 134 181 225 272 314 357 048 094 E2 129 177 222 270 308 353 044 091 Devn +5 +4 +3 +2 +6 +4 +4 +3 +31 Coeff A +4 Residual Devn +1 0 -1 -2 +2 0 0 -1

Coeff A = +31 / 8 = +4

Earth Rate

Gyro Corrections
Earth Rate Correction The effect of apparent drift caused by Earth Rate can be corrected for by inducing real drift in the opposite direction. This is done by using a latitude nut which will correct for Earth Rate at one particular latitude, usually that of the aircraft's home base. A nut is fitted to one side of the inner gimbal on a spindle as shown

Gyro Corrections

Transport Wander
Transporting the gyro over the surface of the Earth also induces apparent drift known as Transport Wander. Like Earth Rate, it happens because of the convergency of the meridians and its magnitude is proportional to the East/West component of groundspeed, and latitude .With an easterly component, transport wander is in the same sense as Earth Rate in the northern hemisphere. That is, in the northern hemisphere it causes the gyro to underread. Westerly movement has the opposite effect. Sense of Apparent Drift You may find the following table helpful in remembering the sense of the apparent drift and the latitude nut correction.

Notice that if you can keep in your head the fact that Earth Rate in the northern hemisphere caused an underread (-) then all the other signs can be filled in by reversing plus and minus.

Example
A perfectly balanced (ie no random drift) DI has its latitude nut set for 50N. Would the indicator reading increase, decrease or remain the same when: (a) Flying on a track of 090 (T) in latitude 70 N (b) Flying on a track of 270 (T) in latitude 20 N (c) Flying on a track of 090(T) in latitude 40 S Solution to (a) Based on the diagram below, a flight to the North of the set latitude causes a decrease in reading, as does a track of 090 (T) in the northern hemisphere, therefore the DI underreads and the readings will decrease.

Example
Solution to (b) When South of the set latitude the latitude nut will cause an overreading. Flight on a track of 270 (T) in the Northern Hemisphere also causes the gyro to overread. The overall effect is therefore to cause the DI readings to increase.

Example
Solution to (c) Flight to the South of the set latitude causes overreading, flight on a track of090 (T) in the southern hemisphere will also cause an overreading. The DI readings will increase.