Our company has received an exemption from the FAA and we are getting ready to do a demonstration project in North Carolina. As I was preparing the Flight Plan, I realized that the first thing I should have done was ensure that the site where we are going to fly has reliable GPS signal. Yes, I know we could fly our Inspire 1 in "A" Mode (vision position system). But that is not ideal. Also, we need to make sure that there will not be electromagnetic interference that will prevent us from calibrating the compass. I imagine that it would not be wise to fly without a calibrated compass. Has anyone flown without a calibrated compass before? If so, did you have any problems? Has anyone ever arrived at a site, ready to fly, only to find that you can't get a GPS signal or calibrate the compass? How did you resolved that problem? If the job were in our state, we could drive to the site and double check it before spending time planning the mission. But in this particular case, that is not a cost-effective option for us because we do not live in North Carolina. I was thinking that if there are any Inspire 1 pilots in North Carolina reading this message, who would be interested in taking your Inspire 1 to the site and doing this fact finding for us, we could talk off line about the details. As I said earlier, this is not a paying job, but a demo to show prospective clients the capabilities of our Inspire 1.
Figuring out if a site is "flyable"
- Thread starter GMiller
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I would say your first thing to check is whether you are in controlled airspace! Your proximity to other structures, habitation, hazards etc. are all critical, as is doing a risk assessment for your AOO. GPS reception is way down the list of importance.
GPS (Navstar) & Glonass is available anywhere on the planet with the exception of the poles. If in doubt, just download any of the many freely available satellite checker apps.
Why would you want/need to calibrate your compass when you get to where you are flying? It is not necessary.
Simply check your mod values before takeoff.
The G in GPS stands for Global - it works (just about) everywhere.
If you can see the sky, you have GPS.
compass calibration before every flight is not necessary, if you calibrate it correctly once you shouldnt have to calibrate it again unless you have updated the firmware or travel 2000 miles from the original calibration location. Ive calibrated my compass about 3 times in the last 9 months and have no problems.
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