I've used these little digital compasses in a sailplane for quite a few
years to good effect. One of their nicer features is that they're more
or less "self swinging:" Point the airplane due north (ideally, on a
compass rose), hit the "cal" button, turn due south, hit "cal" again,
and you're done. True, the 5-deg. resolution is a bit of a handicap--but
in this era of $150 pocket GPS, you can fly a very accurate track with
the compass primarily as backup.
Indeed, in any but the smoothest air, it takes a better pilot than I to
hold a mag heading closer than 5 degrees. I recall from my instrument
training some 15,000 hours ago (sigh) that the instructor asked me to
turn 1 degree right. When I told him I couldn't make a precise turn
that small, he said, "OK, then, turn right five degrees, then back four
to the left."
|