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MAGNETISM

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EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

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MAGNETIC FIELD
➢ Magnetism is a force related to electricity. In short, it is the force between two electrical
currents.

➢ In nature, magnetic fields are produced in the rarefied gas of space, glowing heat of
sunspots, and in the molten core of the Earth.

➢ Magnets are also able to generate this magnetic field, but they need to have the Iron
particles correctly oriented in a process called magnetising.

Antiferromagnetic ordering Ferromagnetic ordering

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MAGNETIC FIELD

➢ Magnetic force generates a field around the magnetised object, with the poles slightly
further in, this distance depends on the shape of the magnet.

➢ The poles of a magnet are labelled as North (in red) and South (in blue)

✓ In a compass, we call North (red) the north seeking side of the compass

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EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

➢ As we said, the Earth’s core generates a magnetic field, that’s why we consider the core to
be a giant magnet when studying Earth’s magnetism.

➢ While very close to, the magnetic poles of the Earth are not coincident with the geographic
poles.

➢ A compass will align itself with

the magnetic lines of the Earth.

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EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

➢ The magnetic north tends to wander approximately 15km each year

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EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

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EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

➢ The importance of this distinction in aviation:

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DEVIATION

➢ This difference between the magnetic and geographic poles is what we call Variation.

➢ Variation can be from 180º, on a line directly between the true and magnetic pole, and 0º,
where the true and magnetic poles are in line.

➢ Lines joining points of equal variation are called isogonals, and can be plotted on a map.
✓ Isogonals converge at both the true and magnetic poles

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EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

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DIP
➢ We know that a compass needle will align itself with the magnetic field of the Earth

➢ The problem is that this magnetic field is not parallel to the ground, but in reality, it has an
inclination proportional to the Latitude.

➢ This inclination of the needle is what we call dip

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AIRCRAFT MAGNETIC FIELD

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PERMANENT MAGNETISM

➢ We know that iron can become magnetised depending on the alignment of its molecules.

✓ The strength of the magnetism will be according on how many molecules are aligned. When
iron attains its maximum magnetism it is said to be saturated.

➢ Not all pieces of iron are easily magnetised:

• Those that reach saturation readily and lose their magnetism easily are called soft iron

• Iron that is hard to magnetise and keeps its magnetism is known as hard iron

➢ There is also another kind of magnetism, called electromagnetism, which only generates a
magnetic field when a current is applied to the electromagnet.

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PERMANENT MAGNETISM
➢ In order to magnetise a piece of iron, we know that we must align its molecules, however, in
order to do so we can do it with several methods:

• Lightning strikes

• Hammering

• Applying a magnetic field to slowly magnetise the iron

• Placing the iron inside a solenoid with a strong DC current

➢ Iron can also be demagnetised:

• Heating it to around 900ºC

• Hammering it while positioned at right angles of a magnetic field

• Placing it inside an oscillating magnetic field and gradually reducing the strength to zero

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DEVIATION

➢ Knowing all that, it stands to reason that an aircraft will always have several magnetic fields
within it, be it from the aircraft structure, or from the electronic components.

➢ These magnetic interferences will affect the readings of the magnetic compass installed on
an aircraft, that’s why we do a procedure called Compass Swing.

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DEVIATION

➢ Compass swing consists on placing the aircraft into a known compass, and measuring the
actual error of the aircraft’s compass with the actual magnetic north.

➢ Once the errors are determined, the engineers will compensate for the errors, in order to
eliminate or reduce them as much as possible.

➢ Finally, the residual errors are calibrated into a compass deviation card.

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COMPASS HEADING

➢ Since we are flying using compass heading, we must be able to translate True headings, into
magnetic headings, and finally into compass heading in order to navigate.

✓ In order to do so, we start from True north, and using the Variation in order to calculate the
Magnetic heading, and finally, using the Deviation, we calculate the Compass heading.

✓ We can memorise this sequence using this: T → v → M → d → C

• In this order, when we have West variation or deviation, we must add it to True or Magnetic
north, and likewise, when having East variation or deviation, we have to subtract it.

• If an exercise gives you the variation/deviation as + or -, consider + as East and – as West

✓ In short, West is Best, and East is Least

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COMPASS HEADING

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COMPASS HEADING

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MAGNETIC COMPASS

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PURPOSE
➢ A direct reading magnetic compass consists of a freely suspended magnet, with a vertical
circular card around it.

➢ Around it there’s a silicone based liquid, which lubricates the pivot.

✓ However, this liquid can cause errors, which we will see later on

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ERRORS

➢ The DRC is prone to acceleration errors and turning errors

• These errors depend (among other factors) on the magnetic latitude.

• At the magnetic equator, we only have an horizontal component of the magnetic field, but
as we travel north or south, the Directive Force starts to dip to the north pole.

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ERRORS

➢ Acceleration errors.

• Due to the inclination of the compass, which shifts the centre of gravity

✓ Remember the mnemotechnics ANDS and SAND

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ERRORS
➢ Turning errors

• Due to the shift in CG, and the centripetal and centrifugal forces.

• Liquid swirl increases the effect through north, and decreases through south

✓ Remember the mnemotechnics UNOS and ONUS

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ERRORS

➢ Turning errors

• For turning errors, if we use timed turns, we can completely eliminate turning errors.

✓ The reason is because if we fly using a rate-1 turn (or coordinated turn) we will know that
after 2 minutes, we will have completed a 360º turn, and thus, we don’t have to rely on the
magnetic compass

✓ Remember that a rate-1 turn is 3º every second, with that calculate:

❖ We want to turn from heading 350 to 085 with a left turn.

❖ Right turn from 025 to 210.

❖ We start turning from 150 to the left for 1:20 min, which is our final heading?

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ERRORS

➢ Turning errors

❖ We want to turn from heading 350 to 085 with a left turn.

✓ 1:29 min

❖ Right turn from 025 to 210.

✓ 1:02 min

❖ We start turning from 150 to the left for 1:20 min, which is our final heading?
✓ 270

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SERVICEABILITY

➢ Pre-flight checks:

➢ Before a flight, the flight crew needs to carry out the following checks:

• Check the security of the compass

• Carry out a visual check for signs of any external damage
• Check that the liquid is free from bubbles, discolouration, and sediment.
• Check that the illumination system is serviceable
• Test for pivot friction by deflecting the magnet system through 10-15º each way, and note
the readings on return, which should be within 2º of each other

✓ This last point we check it during taxi, together with the Directional Indicator and turn
indicator

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FLUX VALVE

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PURPOSE

➢ The lines of flux in the Earth’s magnetic field have two basic characteristics:

• A magnet will align itself with them

• An electrical current is induced in any wire crossed by them

➢ A flux valve is a device that exploits the second property in order to sense the direction of
the magnetic field.

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PRINCIPLES
➢ A flux valve is a small, segmented ring made of soft iron that accepts the magnetic flux.

➢ An electrical coil is wound around each of the three legs in order to accept the current
induced in it’s ring.

➢ Finally, we have a coil wound around the iron spacer in the centre of the frame, which has a
400 Hz AC that flows through it.

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PRINCIPLES

➢ The AC current is there in order to demagnetize the frame, otherwise it would become
saturated and would not accept the flux from the Earth’s field.

• Every time the current reverses, the frame accepts the flux from the magnetic field, which
makes a current to flow through the three pick-up coils.

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PRINCIPLES

➢ As the flux cuts across the windings in the three coils, it causes the current to flow in them.

➢ The coils are connected in such a way, that the current changes as the heading of the
aircraft changes.

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PRINCIPLES

➢ In order to sense the flux, we have a secondary pick-up coil on each leg of the detector,
which they are induced with the AC that’s flowing through the main coil.

• If we didn’t have the Earth’s magnetic field, the induced current on the pick-up coil would
be equal to the main coil but with a phase difference of 180º

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PRINCIPLES

➢ However, since the Earth’s magnetic field actually does lie on top of the induced fields, it
has the effect of lifting the total so that a resultant is produced.

• This means that we actually measure the amount of the magnetic field distorted through
each leg of the detector.

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LOCATION

➢ The flux valve is usually located at the wingtip or at the tail of the aircraft, as far away as
possible from any metal or electronic equipment.

➢ This is done in order to minimize any magnetic interference, so deviation errors are
minimized.

➢ It is pendulous, and mounted on a universal joint, called Hooke’s joint, that allows it
movement in pitch and roll within limits, usually ±25º.

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ERRORS
➢ Deviation:
• Since it is mounted outside of any electromagnetic interference, the flux valve does not
suffer from deviation, thus a correction card is not necessary.

➢ Acceleration/turning errors:
• Unlike the direct reading compass, the flux valve does not have movable parts that would
incur an erratic reading, quite the contrary, it has a pendulous construction in order to
eliminate any error due to attitude.

✓ This is why we use the flux valve as a more accurate way to read the magnetic north, usually
on a device called remote reading compass.

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GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS

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GYROSCOPE

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BASIC PRINCIPLES

➢ A gyroscope, is nothing more than a spinning mass, as long as it has enough angular
momentum.

• A gyro is usually built with a disc shaped mass (called rotor), with a rotational axis and at
least one gimbal, which gives it one degree of freedom.

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BASIC PRINCIPLES

➢ High angular momentum is achieved with high mass and high rotational speeds.

• This angular momentum is what gives the main propriety of a gyroscope, which is rigidity in
space.

✓ Rigidity means that the gyro will be pointing to the same position no matter how much we
move it.

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BASIC PRINCIPLES

➢ The second propriety of a gyro is called precession.

• If an external force acts on a spinning wheel, said force will not act as we expect, instead, it
acts 90º in the direction of rotation.

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DEGREES OF FREEDOM

➢ Gyros are usually suspended in a system of frames, called gimbals, which allow them
freedom of movement in a defined number of planes.

• A gyro needs at least one gimbal for every axis around which you need to measure
movement.

✓ That is why, a turn indicator, which measures movement only around the yaw axis, has only
one gimbal, and an artificial horizon, that measures pitch and roll, has two.

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DEGREES OF FREEDOM
➢ We can classify the gyros in two ways:

• Degrees of freedom
• Spin axis orientation
• General use

➢ Degrees of freedom equates to the number of axes about which gyro displacement can be
measured, and also, the number of gimbals.

✓ A gyro with one gimbal has one degree of freedom

✓ Two gimbals equates to two degrees of freedom
✓ Three gimbals is equivalent to three degrees of freedom

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TYPES OF GYROS
➢ The second classification is by the Spin Axis

• It simply means if a gyro has its axis vertically or horizontally aligned, and it is maintained in
its orientation in some way

➢ The last classification is by general use. This classification is exclusive to aviation, and there
are five classes:

• Space gyros:
✓ Have two degrees of freedom, are also called free gyros

• Tied gyros:
✓ Have also two degrees of freedom, but an external force controls the orientation of the spin
axis

• Earth gyros:
✓ A subcategory of tied gyros, with the spin axis aligned with the Earth’s gravity

• Rate gyros:
✓ Have only one gimbal, and sense rotation in only one plane

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WANDER

➢ We know that when we apply an external force to a gyro it will cause it to precess.

• On gyros used in instruments, a force is deliberately applied in order to make the gyro
precess, and in turn, to give us an indication.

• However, there are forces that are not deliberately applied, such as friction, which makes
the gyro precess out of position.

✓ When this occurs, the gyro is said to wander.

➢ Wander can be broken down into two movements: Drift and topple

• Drift is when the gyro axis moves out of the horizontal plane

• Topple is when the gyro axis moves out of the vertical plane

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WANDER

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WANDER
➢ We have several kinds of wander:

➢ Real wander:

• Gyro imperfections will make the gyro axis to wander, either toppling or drifting, or a
combination of the two will cause real wander
✓ A perfect gyro with no external forces acting on it will have no real wander.

➢ Apparent wander:

• Even if we have a perfect gyro with no real wander, sometimes it will still appear to have
wander. This is because our orientation with space has changed, while the gyro’s
orientation have not.

• Apparent topple due to Earth’s rotation:

✓ If we consider a vertical gyro on the equator, as the Earth rotates, the gyro will appear to be
toppling, at the same rate of the rotation, 15º an hour.

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WANDER
• Apparent drift due to Earth’s rotation:
✓ Now consider an horizontal gyroscope at the geographic north pole. As the Earth rotates,
the gyro will appear to be drifting at the same rate of the rotation, which is 15º per hour

✓ Apparent topple is maximum at the equator

✓ Apparent drift is maximum at the poles

• A gyro placed somewhere between the poles will experience both apparent drift and
topple.

✓ Apparent wander can also be called astronomic precession.

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WANDER
➢ Transport wander:

• Now consider a north aligned gyro on the equator. As we move north or south, the
alignment remains, however, if we move east or west, this alignment will no longer be
correct.

• Although both apparent drift and topple can occur during gyro transport, since the only
instrument that transport wander affects is tied to the horizontal, the apparent topple does
not concern us.

✓ Transport wander is equal to the convergency.

𝑇𝑊 = 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 ∗ sin(mean latitude)

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POWER SOURCES

➢ Power sources:

• The spin rate, and therefore, rigidity, is determined by how the gyro is powered.

• Older aircraft will have air driven gyros, either with positive pressure from a pump, or
negative pressure from an engine driven pump.

✓ Either way, the gyro is driven by air impinging on small depressions around its rim, just like a
water mill works. However, this method causes the gyro to accumulate dust over time.

• A newer form of powering a gyro, is by having a DC motor driving the gyroscope, which
comes with a set of advantages over air driven gyros:

✓ Faster and more predictable spin rate

✓ Less chance of dust accumulation
✓ Ambient air pressure is no longer a factor, allowing for higher operating altitudes

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TURN COORDINATOR

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INDICATIONS

➢ A turn indicator’s purpose is to indicate the rate of change of aircraft heading, and thus it
has to sense the rate of yaw.

✓ The turn indicator gyro has only one degree of freedom, with the axis horizontally aligned
and parallel to the lateral axis of the aircraft (pitch axis)

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INDICATIONS

➢ Turn indicators are calibrated to display a rate-1 turn for the aircraft which is installed.

✓ A rate-1 turn is defined as 3º per second turn, which completes a 360º turn in two minutes.
This is also known as a coordinated turn.

• The formula to calculate the bank angle needed is:

𝑇𝐴𝑆
𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑘 = +7
10

• This means that the turn indicator has to be calibrated for a certain range of TAS, thus, an
indicator for a Cessna 172 will not work for a Cessna Citation, for example.

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INDICATIONS

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INDICATIONS

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INDICATIONS

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INDICATIONS

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ATTITUDE INDICATOR

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PURPOSES
➢ We have two ways of displaying an artificial horizon.

• A direct reading attitude indicator / attitude and director indicator

• An Attitude and Heading Reference System - AHRS

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PURPOSES

➢ Direct reading attitude indicators use an Earth gyro, that is to say a gyro with two degrees of
freedom and its spin axis vertically tied to the Earth’s gravity.

➢ Direct reading instruments can be either air driven, or electrically driven.

➢ Air driven attitude indicator:

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PURPOSES

➢ The air driven Attitude indicator has a gyro erection system, which has a pendulous design,
with the centre of gravity below the suspension point.

• When the gyro precesses, a force is applied 90º of it, which opens the exhaust valve of the
pendulum, which makes the gyro precess in reverse.

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PURPOSES

➢ Air driven attitude indicators have several errors:

• Turning errors:
✓ In a turn, the erection system will try to erect the gyro in the resultant acceleration.

✓ This false alignment will produce an initial roll error, which will change into pitch error as
the aircraft turns through 90º

✓ While we are not required to remember or explain the complex combination of

continuously changing forces, we are required to remember the predictable cycle of errors
at the cardinal points during a turn:

o 000º (Start) – no error

o 090º - Pitch up and bank under reads
o 180º - Max pitch up and correct bank
o 270º - Pitch up and bank over reads

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PURPOSES

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PURPOSES

➢ Air driven attitude indicators have several errors:

• Acceleration errors:

✓ The pendulous vanes can also be displaced with a sustained fore and aft force, such as
during take off, when a false nose up indication is given
✓ This acceleration also affect the pendulous lower element of the gyro, and this force is
precessed through 90º to indicate a bank to the right.

❖ In short: acceleration during take off can lead to a pitch up and bank to the right
❖ Deceleration on landing produces the opposite indication

➢ Electrically driven artificial horizons do not suffer from any of these errors, as the erection
system is electrical instead of an air driven pendulum

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PURPOSES

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PURPOSES

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DIRECTIONAL INDICATOR

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PURPOSES
➢ The purpose of a Directional Indicator is to measure changes in direction relative to the
Earth’s surface.

• Although the spin axis should be tied to the Earth’s horizontal, this is difficult to achieve,
thus, in reality the spin axis is tied to the Aircraft’s horizontal.

• A DI has a tied gyro with two degrees of freedom and an horizontal spin axis.

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PURPOSES

➢ We have two different instruments that gives heading information:

• The Directional Indicator

• The Horizontal Situation Indicator

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PURPOSES

➢ The Directional Indicator simply is a manually adjusted instrument, that uses the rigidity of
the gyro in order to show your current heading.

➢ Since it has no means to correct its information, and it relies completely on a gyroscope, it
suffers from the same errors that a gyro has:

• Gimbal error:
✓ The inner and outer gimbals are aligned 90º to each other when the aircraft is flying straight
and level.
✓ When the aircraft turns, the gimbals are not aligned anymore, which can cause the
indication to lead or to lag the true azimuth

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PURPOSES
• Drift errors:
✓ The DI will be subject to apparent wander, both for the Earth’s rotation and Transport
wander.

• Drift due to the Earth’s rotation:

✓ We know that an Earth tied gyro will have apparent wander as the Earth rotates, which is
maximum at the poles and zero at the equator.

✓ To calculate this wander, we use the following formula:

𝑑𝑒𝑔
𝐸𝑅 𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑡[ ] = 15 ∗ sin(𝑙𝑎𝑡)
ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟

✓ The direction of the drift causes the DI to drift clockwise and under read in the northern
hemisphere, the opposite is true for the southern hemisphere

✓ By convention, we call the drift on the northern hemisphere negative, and positive for the
southern hemisphere

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PURPOSES
• Drift errors:
✓ The DI will be also subject to Transport wander.

✓ As the gyro is moved from one point on the Earth to another, the gyro will maintain its
orientation in space. The direction of the true north however, changes, and the further we
travel east or west, the greater the change.

✓ Transport wander is simply the apparent loss of alignment caused by east/west travel, and
as we know, it is simply the convergency between two points.

𝑇𝑊 𝑑𝑒𝑔 = 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 ∗ sin(𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑎𝑡)

• An finally, the real wander

✓ As we know, all instruments are imperfect, friction and imbalances will create real wander.

✓ If the gyro is described as a perfect gyro, we can assume that there is no real wander.
Likewise, if the exercise does not mention real wander, we can assume there is none

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REMOTE READING COMPASS

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OPERATING PRINCIPLES

➢ The remote reading compass is a device that utilizes the properties of the flux valve in order
to eliminate the errors of the directional indicator.

• It is basically a directional indicator slaved to a flux valve in order to be always aligned with
the north

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OPERATING PRINCIPLES

➢ The signal from the flux valve is sent to an error detector, which has three stator coils
aligned 120º of each other, in the same way as the flux valve.

➢ It also has a rotor coil placed in the stator field, which will have a current induced through it
unless it remains 90º of the resultant field.

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OPERATING PRINCIPLES

➢ The gyro on a remote reading compass is a standard gyro like the one in a DI. It has two
gimbals, and therefore, two degrees of freedom.

• Its axis is horizontal, and the alignment if it is tied to the aircraft horizontal by an electric
erection device.

• We know that a gyro will hold its position in space, as the aircraft turns around the gyro, this
movement is picked up and transmitted to a heading card.

• As long as the heading card is correctly aligned with the north, the unit behaves exactly like
a directional indicator.

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OPERATING PRINCIPLES
➢ If the card is no longer aligned with the north, the rotor coil will not be aligned 90º with the
stator field anymore, and thus it will start to have an AC induced through it.

• Then, this AC is amplified and rectified to DC in the precession amplifier, which then
energizes a precession coil wound around a curved precession magnet which is mounted on
the inner gimbal of the gyro.

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OPERATING PRINCIPLES

➢ The force created by the magnetic field is precessed to rotate the gyro until the heading is
aligned again, and the induced AC on the rotor coil dies away.

➢ This is called synchronization, and it realigns the gyro at a rate about 2º per minute.

• The whole system that ties the DI to the magnetic north is called “slaving loop”

➢ This system provides the selection of two modes of operation:

• Slaved – in which the detector element monitors the gyro

• Free gyro – in which the gyro is isolated from the detector unit, and functions as a regular DI

✓ Usually selected when a malfunction in the monitoring mode occurs, or if the aircraft is
flying in latitudes where the value of magnetic flux is too small to use as a reference

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OPERATING PRINCIPLES

➢ We also have the synchronising indicator, which function is to indicate the user that the
gyro is synchronised with the reference sensed by the detector unit.

• The annunciator can be either integrated with the heading indicator or be a separate unit
mounted on the instrument panel

✓ A typical annunciator consists of a small

flag marked with a dot and a cross visible
through a window.

✓ A small magnet located at the other side

and adjacent to two soft iron coils
connected with the precession circuit.

✓ When the system is out of sync, a current

flows through the coils, moving the magnet
and showing a cross on the window

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OPERATING PRINCIPLES

➢ When initially applying electrical power to a compass system on the ‘slaved’ mode, the gyro
may be out of alignment by a significant amount.

• Since the system aligns the gyro with a rate of around 1º to 2º per minute some time may
elapse before achieving synchronisation. Therefore, to speed up the process, a manual
synchronisation system is always incorporated.

➢ A manual synchronisation knob is located on the heading indicator.

• This knob is coupled to the stator of the gyro. When pushed and turned, the stator turns,
which induces an error voltage into its rotor.

• This signal then feeds the amplifier and servo motor, which in turn drives the precession
torque motor and aligns the gyro

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ADVANTAGES
➢ The advantages of a remote reading compass over a DI are:

• While the DI suffers from real and apparent drift, the gyromagnetic compass constantly
monitors the heading and adjusts it

• The detector unit can be installed in a remote part of the aircraft, avoiding any electrical
interference

• The flux valve senses the magnetic meridian instead of seeking it, which makes it more
sensitive

• The gyromagnetic compass provides a heading reference into higher latitudes than the
conventional compass

• Turning and acceleration errors are minimised

• The compass can be detached from the detector unit by a simple switch, removing the need
to have a separate normal DI

• Its information is available to several other devices, such as RMI, AFCS (autopilot)

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DISADVANTAGES

➢ The disadvantages of a remote reading compass over a DI are:

• It is more heavy than a direct reading compass

• Way more expensive than a DRC or DI

• It is electrically operated, thus susceptible to electrical failure

• More complicated than a DI or DRC

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SOLID STATE SYSTEMS

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AHRS

➢ An Attitude and Heading Reference System consists of sensors in the three axes that
provide attitude information.

• The sensors consists of a Magnetic, Angular Rate, and Gravity sensors and can be either
solid state, or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

• In order to sense these three variables, we need:

✓ Solid state accelerometers

✓ Solid state sensor gyroscopes

✓ Solid state magnetometers

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AHRS
➢ This system is able to sense rotation and acceleration in all three axes, and coupled with the
capability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, AHRS has proven to be highly reliable source
of attitude and heading information.

➢ This is why nowadays almost all business and commercial aircraft have an AHRS integrated
with the electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS) which is the central part of the so called
“Glass cockpit”

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