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An EMS helicopter pilot suffered some loss of orientation due to multiple unaligned directional devices.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 887471 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201005 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.TRACON |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Bell Helicopter Textron Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 135 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Climb |
| Route In Use | Vectors |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Positional / Directional Sensing |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 7500 Flight Crew Type 400 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types |
Narrative:
After transporting a patient to a local hospital I departed the heliport on an easterly heading. The helicopter is equipped with a GPS; a gyro compass and a regular wet compass. After departure I noticed a difference of about 40 degrees between the gyro compass heading and the GPS course indication. It is common after landing at certain hospitals that the gyro compass would indicate a wrong heading for a short time which is caused by strong magnetic fields due to the use of medical equipment near or underneath the heliport. I therefore used the GPS indication for navigation. The ATC controller instructed me to fly headings between 100 and 120 degrees which I initially tried to follow using the wet compass until I noticed that there was no fluid in the compass and that the compass did not match the GPS indications. I was then instructed to fly a heading of 180 degrees followed by cleared direct on course which I did using the GPS. The wet compass was replaced with a serviceable unit.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An EMS helicopter pilot suffered some loss of orientation due to multiple unaligned directional devices.
Narrative: After transporting a patient to a local hospital I departed the heliport on an easterly heading. The helicopter is equipped with a GPS; a gyro compass and a regular wet compass. After departure I noticed a difference of about 40 degrees between the gyro compass heading and the GPS course indication. It is common after landing at certain hospitals that the gyro compass would indicate a wrong heading for a short time which is caused by strong magnetic fields due to the use of medical equipment near or underneath the heliport. I therefore used the GPS indication for navigation. The ATC Controller instructed me to fly headings between 100 and 120 degrees which I initially tried to follow using the wet compass until I noticed that there was no fluid in the compass and that the compass did not match the GPS indications. I was then instructed to fly a heading of 180 degrees followed by cleared direct on course which I did using the GPS. The wet compass was replaced with a serviceable unit.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.