After installing and running FS9 for couple of weeks, Now I noticed the runway heading and the aircraft magnetic headings (aligned to the runway) do have 20 to 40deg. variations. Even while landing the ILS centered heading and the runway are not aligned. Any one knows how this discrepancy occurs? Is there a known solution?I appreciate for the help.I am using Win Vista OS.Thanks.

If you have a newly installed FS9 this means you are running Navs that are at least 5-6 yrs old.You can update your magnetic variation database with this program.http://hsors.pagesperso-orange.fr/navaids.html

How are you measuring your runway's heading?Try inactivating all addon scenery in the Scenery Library, restart FS, and see if that fixes it.

I had the same problem a few months ago. You may have a corrupted magdec.bgl file. Try this -put the magdec.bgl file in the scenery file at the top level of your scenery. (i.e. the last entry in your scenery file). In my case that is AES/scenery as to run AES it always has to have top priority. When I did this it got rid of the problem without me having to mess around with addon sceneries trying to figure out which one caused the problem. Good luck...

I had the same problem a few months ago. You may have a corrupted magdec.bgl file. Try this -put the magdec.bgl file in the scenery file at the top level of your scenery. (i.e. the last entry in your scenery file). In my case that is AES/scenery as to run AES it always has to have top priority. When I did this it got rid of the problem without me having to mess around with addon sceneries trying to figure out which one caused the problem. Good luck...

True, but remember if you're using the latest approach plates etc, you want to install that update. Things like ILS bearings and missed approach headings etc. are well off in some parts of the world by now if you're still using the default file.

True, but remember if you're using the latest approach plates etc, you want to install that update. Things like ILS bearings and missed approach headings etc. are well off in some parts of the world by now if you're still using the default file.

But apparently you then need to change all of your AFD files for the ILS to be correctly aligned.See previous discussion at:http://forum.avsim.net/topic/293741-helpwrong-heading-on-all-airports/page__p__1815779__hl__magdec__fromsearch__1#entry1815779http://forum.avsim.net/topic/293623-incorrect-compass-readings-in-fs9/John

But apparently you then need to change all of your AFD files for the ILS to be correctly aligned.See previous discussion at:http://forum.avsim.net/topic/293741-helpwrong-heading-on-all-airports/page__p__1815779__hl__magdec__fromsearch__1#entry1815779http://forum.avsim.net/topic/293623-incorrect-compass-readings-in-fs9/John

This is correct. I did do the update and found that it caused all kinds of problems so I removed it. The standard file is out of date in terms of the real world, but IMHO it works perfectly within the FS9 system where all the airports and navaids are based on the original file. If it could be updated without having to change hundreds of AFCADS then I'd say go for it. But for me it was not a positive experience. As always, each invidual has to decide if the benefits outweigh the costs for them. In my case it didn't.

Excuse me for being thick, but I am trying to understand this post. In real life runway headings alter, when I did my first solo real time, the heading was 140, now that heading is 130. So after using FS9 for years how come the sim has developed magnetic variation . If everything is programmed into the sim how does it alter. I'm flying very happily with the default, am I wrong ?

Excuse me for being thick, but I am trying to understand this post. In real life runway headings alter, when I did my first solo real time, the heading was 140, now that heading is 130. So after using FS9 for years how come the sim has developed magnetic variation . If everything is programmed into the sim how does it alter. I'm flying very happily with the default, am I wrong ?

I'm no expert on FS9's internal workings but all I can say is that several months ago I noticed that when I lined up on a runway, my compass heading and the runway heading were very different. I was advised to solve it by installing a clean version of the magdec.bgl file from the FS9 disk. Or in my case I have a clean version of FS9.1 on my hard drive that I just use for problem solving like this. By placing it in the scenery folder that has the highest priority (for me that is always AES or it won't work)it will not be overwritten by any addons. Can't really explain it - all I can say is I had the same problem as the person who started this thread and this permanently and completely solved it.Cheers

Excuse me for being thick, but I am trying to understand this post. In real life runway headings alter, when I did my first solo real time, the heading was 140, now that heading is 130. So after using FS9 for years how come the sim has developed magnetic variation . If everything is programmed into the sim how does it alter. I'm flying very happily with the default, am I wrong ?

In real life, only the Magnetic Bearings of the runways change due to the change in Magnetic Variation. The True Bearings stay the same, unless you dig it up and move it. Did your runway change from 140 to 130 or did the runway designator change from 14 to 13? If it was the runway designator, then that could happen in the course of months with a decrease of Variation of only a degree or less to change the Magnetic Bearing from, say, 135* to 134*. A change of 10* in the UK would take years because the annual change here is only about 20' (mins) E. You can get the Variation and annual change on the aerodrome chart from ais.org.The sim has always had magnetic variation, but unlike real life, it doesn't change so magnetic bearings programmed when it was coded remain the same several years later. If you use charts from when it was coded, eg. Jeppessen SimCharts, the bearings are, in general, correct. The problems arise when you want to use up-to-date charts which have been amended for the changes in variation over the years in order to fly on-line in a sim which has not, and cannot, be fully up-dated for magnetic variation changes even with the different magdec.bgl. Probably, FSX would be better, but that too, is becoming out-of-date for the same reason.Colin B

Excuse me for being thick, but I am trying to understand this post. In real life runway headings alter, when I did my first solo real time, the heading was 140, now that heading is 130. So after using FS9 for years how come the sim has developed magnetic variation . If everything is programmed into the sim how does it alter. I'm flying very happily with the default, am I wrong ?

Flight Simulator will not have changed itself. The chances are that you have installed some add-on scenery which unfortunately has side-effects on other locations. As it can be hard to track the culprit down, the suggestion of copying or moving the original file to the top priority in the scenery library ensures that the original FS settings over-ride any such changes.John

Excuse me for being thick, but I am trying to understand this post. In real life runway headings alter, when I did my first solo real time, the heading was 140, now that heading is 130. So after using FS9 for years how come the sim has developed magnetic variation . If everything is programmed into the sim how does it alter. I'm flying very happily with the default, am I wrong ?

There now seems to be a misunderstanding here. I was replying to the original question re magnetic headings. In real life, in the 70s, yes I'm one of the older simmers, EGNH (UK) had runways 14/32, 08/26 which today are designated 13/31 and 07/25. that's what real time does. However as real time doesn't work in FS9, you can set your season, time, year etc how can magnetic variation change within the sim (or as some would call it, a game). I don't dispute what the original posters have experienced, but it doesn't explain it.

In my post above, I said that, in FS, variation doesn't change. That's part of the problem. You can change it to a different fixed base by changing the magdec.bgl file which FS uses to decide what variation to use and where. Once again, it would be fixed to the date of that file and would therefore become out of date when compared to recent charts. It is only correct for the date on which it was based.Some new scenery would be based on newer data and the bearings would be different from those shown in FS, eg the original afcads.Other problems are caused by occasional errors in add-on scenery which cause further display problems. A good example is the problem caused recently by some add-on scenery of Indian airports which affected completely different parts of the world.Quote by Echofox: "In real life, in the 70s, yes I'm one of the older simmers, EGNH (UK) had runways 14/32, 08/26 which today are designated"You're just trying to make us older-timers feel even older. My first solo was on a Tiger Moth in 1954 on a grass airfield without designated runways. Colin B

In my post above, I said that, in FS, variation doesn't change. That's part of the problem. You can change it to a different fixed base by changing the magdec.bgl file which FS uses to decide what variation to use and where. Once again, it would be fixed to the date of that file and would therefore become out of date when compared to recent charts. It is only correct for the date on which it was based.Some new scenery would be based on newer data and the bearings would be different from those shown in FS, eg the original afcads.Other problems are caused by occasional errors in add-on scenery which cause further display problems. A good example is the problem caused recently by some add-on scenery of Indian airports which affected completely different parts of the world.Quote by Echofox: "In real life, in the 70s, yes I'm one of the older simmers, EGNH (UK) had runways 14/32, 08/26 which today are designated"You're just trying to make us older-timers feel even older. My first solo was on a Tiger Moth in 1954 on a grass airfield without designated runways. Colin B

Thank you for your helpful explanation, I am now much wiser should I find I am on a bad approach. Bet you still remember that day in '54, we're not old timers, according to my wife we are still boys playing with toys !