The dumbing down of flight training is evident on this thread by reading the posts.
Pitot heat is only required when there is a chance of ice forming in flight.
Pitot heat is an " as required item "
Sooner or later we will reach a point in flight training where the instructor will teach, do not think during flight, just follow check lists that are designed to relieve the pilot of any thought process.
You know real difficult decisions like is it cold enough for water to freeze?
Oh by the way as to compass error,, yeh IFR equipped aircraft all rely on using the magnetic compass and we never check DI reading after runway line up. Hell why would I bother to confirm the heading information against runway heading..
No, all I need do is turn on the pitot heat to ensure my magnetic compass is reading accurately set the heading and off I go..
DUH!!!
Cat Driver