What is my compass heading?

[Ucla81]

Hi all,

Probably an elementary question, but I cannot find the answer in the manual. When I am flying, how do I know my compass heading? I don't see it anywhere on my DJI Go screen. Thx....


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[glen e]

Great question, I can't believe it's missing either.

 

[tcope]

Flying by compass heading?

 

[grin factor]

I would hazzard a guess north will be when the Arrow on screen is pointing up, could be wrong tho@
Why do you ask?

 

[Ucla81]

Yeah I've seen the little red arrow point in the direction it's flying, but technically I don't know if that's N,E,S,or W. I know to calibrate the compass, but without seeing the heading on the screen I don't know if the calibration worked. Also, If I use the red arrow and point downward (south), how do I know for sure it is heading about 180° If I can't see the compass heading? I hope I am asking this question in a way that makes sense...

 

[N017RW]

Heading and direction moving/traveling (a.k.a. Course) can be two very different things.

 

[Ucla81]

As a follow up example, lets say there is a landmark I want to navigate to, and I know it's southwest of my starting point (my house), bearing 220° and 1/2 mile away. I would want to fly an exact heading of 220° so if I could see that on my screen, navigation would be easier (just as pilots fly). Relying on the red arrow provides me with only a guess on approximate heading.

 

[N017RW]

Again, Heading and Course are/can be different in a fluid.

At a minimum you have to compensate for wind (crabbing) and can be further complicated by the a/c being able to fly in any direction regardless of Heading.

NOT saying it's not useful info., just not in the way you might expect to use it.

 

[grin factor]

I think you may be expecting too much from the drone etc here.
I'd change location to see where I was going, safety reasons also

 

[Ucla81]

Thanks for those responses, it does help. As a retired air traffic controller, I understand the differences between a course to, and a bearing from. My examples assume no wind. Given the answers, the compass calibration concerns me, because it sounds like I cannot tell for sure if the calibration worked. If for example I execute RTH, the calibration comes into play for it to return to the correct spot. Sounds like I really don't know if the calibration worked for sure, or it went out-of-sync. Maybe I am overly concerned, and shouldn't be.

 

[N017RW]

Yes you are overly concerned If... it flies straight and you have no errors (the cal worked).

 

[ChiefStealth]

I have never seen a compass heading, given in numbers, in any manual, or YouTube video of any Phantom version.

 

[WilliamM]

Thanks for those responses, it does help. As a retired air traffic controller, I understand the differences between a course to, and a bearing from. My examples assume no wind. Given the answers, the compass calibration concerns me, because it sounds like I cannot tell for sure if the calibration worked. If for example I execute RTH, the calibration comes into play for it to return to the correct spot. Sounds like I really don't know if the calibration worked for sure, or it went out-of-sync. Maybe I am overly concerned, and shouldn't be.

Not for RTH, that uses GPS cords not compass headings.