BE58 pilot is informed of a heading error on departure by ATC which is due to a malfunctioning compa...

Attributes
ACN	1099078
Time
Date	201307
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	FRG.Airport
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Baron 58/58TC
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors SID FRG 4
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Compass (HSI/ETC)
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

This was an IFR flight. I departed doing the frg 4 departure and was told to make a left turn to a heading of 030; which I did; so I thought. The controller came back and told be I was on a heading of 330. I double checked my compass and it was 030. I looked at the magnetic compass and it showed around 310 and at that time I realized something was wrong. I asked him to give me a turn because my compass was giving me an incorrect reading. He turned me back towards 030 degrees. I tried several times to reslave my compass and kept asking him to check that I was heading in the right direction. He asked me if I wanted to go back to frg. I did not want to do an instrument approach with the way it was working so I asked to continue into VFR conditions on top and head west because it was VFR to the west where I was going. As I headed west in level flight; the compass started to correct itself and I kept checking with ATC. For some reason the compass or gyros spooled up slowly so when I stopped turning on departure at 030 as cleared; I was really at 330. It is [a holiday week] and there not much I could do; but the aircraft is going to the avionics shop to be checked on why the heading lagged so much in my turn on climbout.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE58 pilot is informed of a heading error on departure by ATC which is due to a malfunctioning compass system. In level VMC flight the compass eventually corrects itself and the flight continues to destination.

Narrative: This was an IFR flight. I departed doing the FRG 4 Departure and was told to make a left turn to a HDG of 030; which I did; so I thought. The Controller came back and told be I was on a HDG of 330. I double checked my Compass and it was 030. I looked at the Magnetic compass and it showed around 310 and at that time I realized something was wrong. I asked him to give me a turn because my compass was giving me an incorrect reading. He turned me back towards 030 degrees. I tried several times to reslave my compass and kept asking him to check that I was heading in the right direction. He asked me if I wanted to go back to FRG. I did not want to do an instrument approach with the way it was working so I asked to continue into VFR conditions on top and head west because it was VFR to the west where I was going. As I headed west in level flight; the compass started to correct itself and I kept checking with ATC. For some reason the compass or gyros spooled up slowly so when I stopped turning on departure at 030 as cleared; I was really at 330. It is [a holiday week] and there not much I could do; but the aircraft is going to the avionics shop to be checked on why the heading lagged so much in my turn on climbout.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.