Compass NPP how accurate is in game?

[MadJiitensha]

I often read that mig 21 got magnetic compass and you have to take magnetic variation into your calculations,
yet today me and my mate was on ift training with rsbn training, and to be honest whenever i took magnetic variation in calc, we just roll into a grass next to airport. 

Example airport True bearing 040 (caucas so about 6East) so 036 and boom without cheating (we train in VFR conditions) we really never make on strip. we test two of them tho. 
Then we tried to just screw it and go for True bearings, and everything was smooth and accurate.
Looks like theres no Magnetic variations, not to mention about magnetic deviation. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by MadJiitensha

[sLYFa]

The Fishbed's HSI shows true heading. 

IRL there is a gauge that lets you set a magnetic variation, basically a heading offset for your heading gyro, so DCS kinda simulates you having dialed in the local magvar. This is true to life AFAIK since the real Mig-21bis manual mentions all nav calculation to performed with true headings

[Jonne]

What makes sense, as unlike VOR and ILS, RSBN and PRMG are aligned to true headings rather than magnetic.

[Northstar98]

On 1/5/2021 at 4:00 PM, sLYFa said:

The Fishbed's HSI shows true heading. 

IRL there is a gauge that lets you set a magnetic variation, basically a heading offset for your heading gyro, so DCS kinda simulates you having dialed in the local magvar. This is true to life AFAIK since the real Mig-21bis manual mentions all nav calculation to performed with true headings

 

Yeah, same with the L-39 and I think even the Yak-52 and Mi-8 have a control panel (I think known as GMC) where you dial in a latitude, which sets up the HSI to reference true north.

[Dragon1-1]

Russians fly in far northern latitudes a lot, so it makes sense for them to use true rather than magnetic, since magnetic variation can be very large in those areas. That's probably also the reason why RSBN and PRMG use true heading.

[Frederf]

In all MiG-21 manuals I have seen there is a cockpit dial (ЗМС–2) to adjust the offset between magnetic sensor value and displayed heading just like in L-39. In the manual I read it is in the same place as the ampere gauge in our DCS cockpit. If this dial is set to variation then true is displayed. If this dial is set to 0 then magnetic is displayed.

 

My understanding is that this particular model has the declination setter in a bay which is not accessible from the cabin. It would be nice if it is modeled for the dial to be in the cabin or if not in the cabin the value is equal to a fixed value at start (perhaps even kneeboard/editor adjustable) such that flying distant from the start the declination difference is noticeable.

[Fri13]

On 1/13/2021 at 12:50 AM, Dragon1-1 said:

Russians fly in far northern latitudes a lot, so it makes sense for them to use true rather than magnetic, since magnetic variation can be very large in those areas. That's probably also the reason why RSBN and PRMG use true heading.

 

Or maybe it will just help to keep things simple when given true values, and avoid pilot to do math in their head if situation is stressed? 

[Dragon1-1]

And why would they be given true values in first place? To get true north, you either need to have a gyro, a star tracker or convert from magnetic (or use SATNAV, but that's a recent invention). For most part, there's no reason not to use magnetic... except if magnetic variation is so large that it becomes difficult to use. This happens at high latitudes, which is coincidentally where most of Russia is located.

[Fri13]

18 hours ago, Dragon1-1 said:

And why would they be given true values in first place? To get true north, you either need to have a gyro, a star tracker or convert from magnetic (or use SATNAV, but that's a recent invention). For most part, there's no reason not to use magnetic... except if magnetic variation is so large that it becomes difficult to use. This happens at high latitudes, which is coincidentally where most of Russia is located.

 

It is not just the Russia that is located there, everyone else will be affected as well from it, like USA has major changes because of that:

 

 

There is NO reason to use magnetic, or TO use it.

As there is to major schools about that depending how often one wants to print their maps or check their instruments etc.

 

The magnetic is only thing that changes, but you need to get it correspond someway to the map and area you are moving. So it is always the game of measurement and testing and checking and planning what to be used.

 

That is as well why this:

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/CeBu6mRDaro?t=3203

 

When you automate the system to correct the magnetic variations based your position, it is easier and better give a true north as you don't need to do that math yourself because all the variations through the areas you are flying or the time when you are flying. Let the people on the ground do the math, and you just navigate the hours you need to.