Heading Variation Puzzle

[johnwillimas 6]

I've been using FS9 for years but I've recently had a problem that's left me puzzled.I'm sitting on a runway but when I check my heading on the HSI / compass it reads as much as thirty degrees off from the actual runway heading. The value shown if I shift-z is the same as the value on the HSI / compass but it doesn't agree with the outside visual world.The problem doesn't seem to be restricted to a particular airport or a particular aircraft. Quitting FS9 and restarting often makes the problem go away (but not always).I've only noticed it when running FS Flying School alongside FS9 (which checks your heading against the runway that you are landing on).Has anyone else seen anything like this??

[DaryllB25840 1]

I don't know if this relates to your problem or not but when I finish loading an airplane, I always hit the keys "B" sets the baro pressure for the Altimeter and "D" which sets the HSI heading to the correct compass heading. Those are the only times I have encountered problems like you describe.

[aspen31 4]

HelloNot sure if this might help but believe it or not a while back I experienced heading problems because of a bad scenery .BGL file. It turned out to way down in the Caribbean and totally unrelated to areas I was flying in (Upstate NY and Northern Florida). My headings were about 120 degrees out, consistently. Eventually I was able to isolate the problem .bgl, and remove it -- everything was then normal. Tom Gibson over at calclassic.com was very helpful in finding the solution.Hope this helps.Aspen31

[arrvoo 6]

I too had this problem just yesterday. From doing a search here on Avsim and following a few suggestions i found it was also caused by a faulty bgl file. Earlier in the evening i'd had a FS9 software crash which i presume had caused the problem.To solve it i first disabled all the scenery files in the "Scenery Library" (including all the default ones loaded when you install FS9).I then replaced the magdec.bgl found in the C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesFlight Simulator 9SceneryBASEScenery folder (or wherever you have it installed). The magdec.bgl can be downloaded from the Avsim file library here http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=95244. on starting up the default flight at Seattle i found the heading bug gone so pointing to it indeed being a scenery bgl file being the culprit.I then turned on the scenery files one by one , checking if the heading bug was still there by firing up the default flight at Seattle again (runway 34R should give you a heading of 340 degrees). I finally found the culprit (South America somewhere i hadn't been flying in at all).I then extracted the bgl's from the cab files from my installation discs (using Winzip)and overwrote the scenery files in the South American folder. I then had to delete the scenery.dat file then restart FS9 and everything was ok again. It took a bit of time and tedious starting and shutting down of FS( but loads better than reinstalling FlightSim and my hundreds of addonsHope this helps.

[ghiom 2]

Also I have had this problem (see recent threads)Thought I had found the culprit and removed the KAMA scenery that I had narrowed. Then, a few days later, the problem came back.Could not understand. What I did is to add the magdec.bgl file as a scenery with highest priority. So far so good but it still does not explain my problem....Can someone explain?Thank youGhiom

[scott967 62]

Could some one advise the exact scenery and if possible, bgl file that causes this problem?scott s..

[ghiom 2]

For me, at 1st removing the KMAF scenery joe di gregorio (here on AVSIM: kmaf2007.zip) cured the problem...However, it came back a few days later without explanation...

[johnwillimas 6]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.I've put in a few chunks of scenery lately, including some stuff from CalClassics. I'll have to explore the suggested approach but the problem is only sporadic and I haven't narrowed it down to a specific airport yet - for example starting at KPWT sometimes has the problem and sometimes doesn't.Ho humm, I guess that's half the fun!

[ghiom 2]

It is always good to see that you are not alone in this world.sporadic problem here as well.Ghiom