north pole

[spannerhead]

emirates recently flew a 330 (on a delivery flight)from toulouse, via the north pole to dubai. about a 18 hour flight, 7000nm.
what would the crew expect to see on their intrumentation as they approach, fly over and away from the pole??
i've got my own ideas...but how close to the pole before it has an effect.

[Mariner9]

Why did they route over the pole? That's one hell of a detour!

[spannerhead]

according to lhr skyport mag it was an experiment to monitor the effects of fatigue on the 4 man crew using russian space agency doctors. it was also a first for emirates having the longest flight for their company and also the highest fuel load. i cant remember how much fuel they uplifted but they landed with 17 tonnes. your right it was a hell of a detour!!

[jetboy]

Modern aircraft no longer use magnetic compass systems, except of course for the standby. The Inertial Reference Unit calculates TRUE heading based on the North Pole. Magnetic heading is calculated by adding or subtracting from the TRUE calculation based on aircraft position and an internal database. On an Airbus, magnetic heading is displayed up until 82.5 degrees North. Above that latitude, the IR displays TRUE heading only. (This also occurs in the vicinity of the magnetic pole 'keyhole area'). A GRID Track reference is also displayed on the Nav Display at this time. Basically, with the compass referenced to TRUE, one would fly 360 to the Pole, and 180 from the pole. Oh yeah, leave NAV mode engaged and let the Flight Management take care of your routing, because from the North Pole, all roads lead South!

[747FOCAL]

The ops manual for 747-400s says that the autopilot must be switched off from one point to another when flying over the poles. The computer gets confused and the plane will roll over. Sorry I can't remember the exact points.

[Code Blue]

In the Canadian AIP, the Northern Domestic Airspace (low level) runs roughly from about 60 deg N - the Northern & Arctic Control High Level areas share similar boundaries. Within this area all bearings, courses &c are supposed to be in deg True and a/c are obliged to used a non magnetic means of finding North. North of 60 will produce significant errors if relying on Magnetic compass - I think this effect is greater on the East coast.

I believe the current Magnetic North Pole is located on Baffin Island.

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[FE Hoppy]

Did a trip to the pole(true) in my mil days. We took 3 navs and used grid navigation that involved making a false pole somwhere else and forming a grid from that point. then when you get to the real pole you dont have to ask which south? When flying in northern canada near the mag pole.All the beacons are aligned to true wich makes for interesting instument readouts. The neadle points one way when the beacon is in the other and the standby compass is trying to point down!!!

[jtr]

18 hrs @ 6+t/hr? Would need a centre tank, and an ACT. Didn't think they put then in the 330's.

[411A]

How well does GPS work in these higher latitudes? Any significant problems?

[CaptainSquelch]

Been there several times with the 747-200 and 300.
The funny thing is that you expect something spectacular to happen. The IRS making a full swing or so. And if it swings over 180 degrees does it a 180 heading change or does it make a half loop or a half roll?

I tell you: It's terribly disapointing since nothing happens. The PDI (the little indicator that shows true track and IRS track deviation) makes a 180 degrees swing and that's it. The magnetic compasses are making 360's well before that and the sun is rising anywhere but in the east.

However if you decide to go down, beware. It's cold down there.