Menu
Log in



NEVER   EAT   SOGGY  WAFFLES


Knowing basic directional concepts well makes everything easier in the cockpit and for flight planning.

Cardinal directions and the corresponding numerical degrees, called the heading, on the compass are foundational to flying. Directions and degrees are two ways of talking about the same thing.  So if you know both ways - the name and the number - you’ll be fluent when it comes time to apply those concepts in the air or elsewhere.

Some things never change.  On the compass,  

  • 000 degrees (say “zero-zero”), also 360 degrees, (or "three-six-zero") is/are another way of saying “North”

  • 090 (say “zero-nine-zero”) is another way of saying “East”

  • 180 (say “one-eight-zero”) is another way of saying “South”

  • 270 (say “two-seven-zero”) is another way of saying “West”

  Click the image for more.


EXERCISE:  PLOT A COURSE

GET A MAP, A PENCIL, AND A RULER

   Click the image for more.

  • Find or print out an old fashioned paper map.  Locate your house or any point of interest on the map.  Think of it as point A.

  • Now locate a second point on the other side of the page. Consider this to be point B

  • Use the ruler to draw a straight line with the pencil from one point to the other.  Lay your compass right on the pencil line.

  • Without lifting the compass from the map, rotate the compass so that the letter N and the red pointer are aligned with North on the map.  North is ALWAYS marked on a map.  It may look like only an arrow and a letter N.  The arrow almost always points UP toward the top of the page to indicate north.

  • Look at the cardinal direction and the bearing from point A to point B.  Examples might be NE, or 045, or “zero-four-five” to a pilot.

  • Another example is NNE, or 030, spoken as “zero-three-zero.” 


PLOT YOUR RETURN COURSE

  • What’s the direction, also called the heading, from point B to point A?  It’s the opposite direction!  To continue the example, the opposite direction from your first bearing would be SSW, or 210, or “two-one-zero.”

What other directions and bearings can you plot?


EXERCISE: TURNING LEFT AND RIGHT

Orient the compass so that the red pointer is pointing to the N on the compass. (It may take a minute to settle.)

Keep the compass still, but look on the compass as if you were turning to the right.  Is the directional number, the "heading" a larger or smaller number than 000 for North? It is larger, because:

Right turns: increase.   Left turns: decrease.

Face North again, and then look on the compass as if you were turning to your left and see how the compass reading for the direction you're facing is a smaller number than 360 degrees (which is also North).

Right turns: increase.  Left turns: decrease.

Call, text or email me at anytime!   (530) 401-6082     Chris Haven         

p.s.  In the cockpit, the magnetic heading and the direction of flight show on two different instruments, but if you are familiar with a regular compass, you'll already understand how each works.              





Wet "Whiskey" Compass

Heading Indicator

Chris

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software