Mike
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I found this thread via google search

bashope, this thread was ten years old.

Pink Leader

You can be pretty sure that your Garmin GPS is displaying Mag Track. The give-away is the small 'M' appended to the heading figure. If you force the GPS into true mode the heading will be appended with a 'T'.





neutron

Here's me two-pennyworth for what thats worth.

1. I am a VFR flyer use map, compass & hand held GPS 296 & Skydemon. No radio navigation equipment.

2. I am certain the GPS is NOT showing magnetic track. I frequently see a major difference in the GPS readout and the compass (I have 2 one of which is digital and has the appropriate magnetic sensors).

3. While I have never used Mag Track for anything (except during TopNav pre-flight planning using VORs), I can accept that others may well need them. I assume they will not use the inflight verison of SD. Also I notice that both Navbox and PocketFMS both ouput Mag Track in their logs  .. PFMS at least is much used by GA crowd.

4. There is no doubt that there is room to include this on the log printout.

David

A further example of the need for Mag Track - 

Quadrantal Rule - cruisings levels are selected in accordance with the Mag Track, these levels are mandatory for IFR but highly recommended for VFR. To select an appropiate level at the planning stage, the Mag Track also needs to be listed under leg properties and appear at the bottom of the screen if a leg is highlighted.





neutron

We've added mag track as an option (off by default) in the PLOG ready for the forthcoming beta release of the 1.4 version. We will await feedback on it and hopefully those who have requested it will find it useful!

Hi Tim,



I would certainly utilise a magnetic track column in the PLOG because although I am a VFR pilot, I often navigate through use of VORs especially around the London area. The magnetic track (radial) to or from VORs would be useful in order to tune the VOR radial and provide a backup to my GPS device running SkyDemon. At the moment when navigating through use of VORs, I either have to manually apply the magnetic variation to the true track or produce a PLOG with no wind.



Regards,



Richard Avery

I'd say it would certainly be useful