Vertical Magnetic Compass

[cpolsley]

Whats the opinion of a vertical compass as compared to the whiskey compass? Do they bounce around a lot or are they stable like a DG?
I would like to mount it on the top of the instrument panel.

[N2865C]

They are a lot more stable. No bouncing up and down. They still have some lead and lag error, but not nearly as much as a whiskey compass. I had one in my last plane. They are great for the directionally challenged (like me).
jc

[jrenwick]

Here's mine:



The vertical card compass seems more stable than a whisky compass, and it's certainly easier to read.

Best Regards,

John

[Roesbery]

The one I tried was real stable, part of the time, I could turn 45 degrees befor it would move sometimes. Then sometimes it would do a couple 360s while I was straight and level. Took it out, went back to the old way.

[AR Dave]

OK John, you didn't use that as an excuse to show off that gorgeous instrument panel did you? Man we've got some nice planes coming to Petit Jean. I might as well start taking pictures of panels & interiors now!

[blueldr]

Re: Vertical card compasses--- they look neat, but they seem to wear out fast. I've never seen an Air Path wet compass wear out.

[jrenwick]

OK John, you didn't use that as an excuse to show off that gorgeous instrument panel did you?

Darn! He's on to me!

That, and I wanted to figure out how to include a photo in a message....

Thanks for the compliment!

John

[170C]

I had one in my C-140, loved it. Put one in my 172-TD a few years back and wouldn't want to go back to the whiskey compass. Easier to read & it follows your turns as does the DG.

And ARDAVE beat me to the punch on John having an excuse to show off his panel. If my panel looked that good I'd put a photo (if I knew how) of mine on the forum!

[GAHorn]

An easy way to read a whiskey compass or AN gyro compass is to remember that if you want the numbers in the window to slide to the right....it's a right hand turn. (So if your present heading is 270 degrees and you want to fly 300 ...then you want that little number "30" to move to the right >>>>
[30 | 29 | 27 | 24 | 21]

[N3243A]

I agree with Dick. They look neat but mine wore out to the point that is was reading 90 degrees out. The little gimble mechanism that translates the real compass needle to the vertical card is pretty delicate.

[GAHorn]

That's a common complaint about the vertical card magnetic compasses.....they are fragile and unreliable. There's a service letter issued by the manufacturer (Precision) about installation procedures because so many of them are rendered inoperative merely by handling them during installation.
It seems to me that if the purpose of a magnetic compass is as an all-time reliable backup/primary instrument that we want to work when everything else fails.....then the vertical card version is a hazardous waste.

[jrenwick]

That's a common complaint about the vertical card magnetic compasses.....they are fragile and unreliable. There's a service letter issued by the manufacturer (Precision) about installation procedures because so many of them are renedered inoperative merely by handling them during installation.

Wow! I didn't know these things had problems. I'll keep a suspicious eye on mine, and if it looks like it's acting up, I'll replace it with a whiskey bottle -- er, compass.

Thanks for the heads-up, everyone!

John