Should I set Track up or North up?

When I learned to fly I used sectionals (remember them) and I kept it north up. Now, like a man who has two watches never knows what time it is, I have track up in the GX-50 and north up in the tablet and I don't' know where I'm going.
 
Ravioli said:
The Earth isn't moving? Who keeps spewing the crap about the Earth spinning once per 24 hours, tilting (seasons), and orbiting the moon once per year?

I suppose it's flat too.
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We are moving relative to the earth, when charts start including the solar system, then we’ll consider the sun as stationary, if charts include other stars, then the center of the Milky Way will be the reference.
BTW, we are NOT orbiting the moon.
 
North up = Coriolis
West up = Eötvös
Track up = Sacvös Arriolis
 
Anymouse said:
Asking for a friend...
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Track up is better for turn-by-turn directions, but north-up is better for situational awareness.
I use track-up for driving a car, but north-up when flying.
The fact that both options are available means that there is nothing inherently good or bad about either choice.
 
I wonder how many people who fly North up would have held a paper sectional the same way.... I always flew with track up on my sectional, so electronic maps, same, same...
 
North up for the paper sectional too.

And now... Ravioli's True Stories time:

We were doing a MAJOR plant improvement and the plans were all hung on the walls of the conference room / command center. They all showed the Cardinal arrow to North for reference. It was in the lower left corner of each plan, and pointing to the left. The plans were on THREE walls of the room, all with the arrow pointing to the left.

None of the arrows pointed to where North really was for that room.

One guy couldn't get it. He asked at EVERY meeting for two weeks when the correct drawings would be here because "that isn't North."

Finally, someone took a plan from the wall, placed it on the floor, and rotated it to point the arrow North (can't remember if it was magnetic or true). He said, "Does that look right?" And the guy said yes. It was then explained that it's easier to put them on the walls than the floor, but they are indeed correct.

:mad2:
 
I was a navigator instructor and flight examiner in the Air Force. Navigators in heavy aircraft were used to North Up while WSOs out of fighters used Track Up. Both were professional navigators. I could always tell a WSO getting checked out to be a navigator instructor in the T43 because the ground mapping radar display was configured North Up and they would crane their head around to align with the track cursor. It was most amusing when the aircraft was on a southerly heading. I'm certain many WSOs would have a sore neck at the end of a mission. Personally, as a WSO myself, I would only feel comfortable flying Track Up at 500k+ at low level. At GA speeds, I prefer North Up on the electronic display(s) and a paper sectional to compare it with. YMMV
 
sarangan said:
The fact that both options are available means that there is nothing inherently good or bad about either choice.
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On the contrary.

The toilet paper comes down the front of the roll. Just because you could, in theory, have it come down the back, does not mean that it is an acceptable option.
 
If you really want to cook your noodle set some north and others track
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
On the contrary.

The toilet paper comes down the front of the roll. Just because you could, in theory, have it come down the back, does not mean that it is an acceptable option.
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Now you did it. Some one will post a thread about toilet paper now.
 
Pilawt said:
With track up it's harder to read the words ...

av4_00750_hdr-jpg.66237
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Ya know....I was tracking till I saw this. o_O
 
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flhrci said:
What about track down? Hmmmmmm.....
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In Australia....

So what does one do if a CFI flys with you and resets the display to HIS preference without consulting you first? Then tells you that you better learn his way because it's the "correct" way.... ?
 
A
bluesideup said:
Hi.
You can answer your own question, with a question, do you want to be able to read what is on the charts?
Only amateur navigators set Track up, no good logical reason in aviation / navigation.
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Aren’t you special.
 
Yankees like track South but I don’t know if that’s useful info for this conversation.


:stirpot:
 
Both? Whatever works for you personally? On XC I keep my paper maps tracking via perspective. Same with ForeFlight. I’m a visual person though. It’s just quicker and easier for me to anticipate/identify waypoints visually.

Kinda curious how IR pilots parse things. When you don’t have any visual reference are you north or Track?
 
What’s a paper sectional,track up.
 
teejayevans said:
North up, the earth is not moving, you are, track up is backwards.
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Ravioli said:
The Earth isn't moving? Who keeps spewing the crap about the Earth spinning once per 24 hours, tilting (seasons), and orbiting the moon once per year?

I suppose it's flat too.
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Keep thinking like that and we will be reading about you flying off the edge and not being able to find your way back.
 
wsuffa said:
In Australia....

So what does one do if a CFI flys with you and resets the display to HIS preference without consulting you first? Then tells you that you better learn his way because it's the "correct" way.... ?
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laugh at them and do not respond to such ignorance.
 
It’s really important to do an equal amount of both - you want the Track up and North up presentations to wear evenly.

Personally, I do Track up when on easterly headings, and North up when flying westerly, but find a system that works for you.
 
Track-up: for "Children of the Magenta Line". You know, the ones that hold up both hands with thumb and index finger at 90* to see which way is left. :D:p;)

North-up: for those of us used to maps with North Up, "like God intended". :D


I know Andy's just having fun with a pot-stirring question. Really, whichever way works best and makes the most sense to you is the right way to do it.
 
wayne said:
I know Andy's just having fun with a pot-stirring question. Really, whichever way works best and makes the most sense to you is the right way to do it.
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I think this is one of those left brain vs right brain things.
 
wayne said:
...I know Andy's just having fun with a pot-stirring question. Really, whichever way works best and makes the most sense to you is the right way to do it.
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don't shoot the messenger, it's his friend stirring things up!
 
My primary instructor was a HUGE believer in "There are two ways two do things, My way and the wrong way."

Also, big on "My plane, My rules."

Track up or North up? Jake's answer would be "decide for yourself AFTER you get your PPL." He did have a Cherokee with a 430 in it. Sold the plane.

Hmm.. come to think of it, he ran over my iPad one day. [True Story]

Maybe that's where my outlook on iJunk in the cockpit comes from.
 
Ravioli said:
Hmm.. come to think of it, he ran over my iPad one day. [True Story]

Maybe that's where my outlook on iJunk in the cockpit comes from.
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If put you Ipad on the ground to be run over, that’s call “pilot error“!
And you seriously don’t expect an iPad to be able to withstand being run over vehicle weighing more than a ton?
 
I typically fly track up but sometimes I switch to north up for a moment or two
 
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