NickP95 wrote:
I like to think I have a pretty good idea of which way is North, …
Back in the days when I did the flight planning myself (with chart and protractor and so on) my party piece was to set the heading bug to any “direct to” waypoint that ATC would give to us before the other pilot could answer the call. I was never more than 5 degrees off. That was one of the most useless skills I ever developed…
Now, when they give us a direct to waypoint, I select that point from the stored flight plan and press the “D” button. And say some mindless phrase as per our SOPs (which keep changing every three months or so) to make my freshly checked-out first officer happy. I don’t even look at the moving map, so whether it is north up or track up I couldn’t really care.
I think it is time to quit flying and go back to develop aviation software…
what_next wrote:
North is a completely arbitrary direction and as good or bad as any other.
what_next wrote:
Why not “North by Northwest” ( * ) up instead?
what_next wrote:
The only thing I care about is where I am going, not what our planet is revolving around.
I like to think I have a pretty good idea of which way is North, at any time. Earlier this week, my friend (who was driving) and I were about to pull out of our driveway when he almost turned the wrong way because Google Maps hadn’t figured out yet which way we were pointing (no speed, so no chance for GPS to calculate a track). Wouldn’t have happened with North up
what_next wrote:
I’m afraid I do not understand a single reason for “North up” North is a completely arbitrary direction and as good or bad as any other. Why not “west by northwest” up instead? The only thing I care about is where I am going, not what our planet is revolving around.
I was being polite to them @what_next….
JasonC wrote:
I fully understand the reasons presented for North up, …
I’m afraid I do not understand a single reason for “North up” North is a completely arbitrary direction and as good or bad as any other. Why not “North by Northwest” ( * ) up instead? The only thing I care about is where I am going, not what our planet is revolving around.
( * ) Edit: Spelled the title of a favorite movie correctly.
I fully understand the reasons presented for North up, but you are all wrong. :)
Track up is fine as long as you follow the magenta line.
North up is better if you need to divert from the magenta line from some reason and need to be able to quickly recognise the airspace around you. To me at least, it is much easier to recognise the airspace having it’s general shape (north up) in my mind.
VFR on SkyDemon I use North Up,
IFR on the MFD I only use Track up.
I’m the weird type that likes both track and north up, depending on the situation.
Paper/‘static’ maps/charts/plates: north up. Be it looking at an approach plate or walking through a city, my mental map is north up, so I like my reference material to be the same way.
Maps that show my progress along a pre-defined plan (i.e. with a GPS overlay/georeferenced): those I like to be track up.
I’ve tried using paper VFR charts track up, and the ’what’s on the map matches what you see out the window’ argument just doesn’t work for me. That’s probably because, during the planning stage, your map is north up, so any familiarisation with the area on the map has been in that orientation. And that’s before you get to the text-upside-down problem, which only makes things worse for track up
The KMD550 does it. All three.
Heading up is the only way to get Track up if you are not moving.
It needs heading input, either XY 400Hz or ARINC429.
lionel wrote:
I belong to the church of heading up.
I have, so far, not come across a display which would me select “heading up” (although I would give it a try). Only north up or track up.