Umm, Radio Magnetic Indicators?

Irish_Armada

Irish_Armada

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Irish Armada
Starting to study for my IR written and it seems that these mysterious RMI contraptions are given quite a bit of emphasis and we need to know how to use them. Never seen one before -- do they actually exist? Do any of you have one in your plane? I'm worried that they may in fact be very real...
 
Other than on a sim, I've never seen one. Fortunately, they're fairly intuitive.
 
Irish_Armada said:
Starting to study for my IR written and it seems that these mysterious RMI contraptions are given quite a bit of emphasis and we need to know how to use them. Never seen one before -- do they actually exist? Do any of you have one in your plane? I'm worried that they may in fact be very real...
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Just an ADF head with a compass card, making it easier to do NDB bearings - no math, just look at the tip of the needle for beating TO the station, the tail for FROM and hash marks for typical intercept angles.

Piece of cake.
 
Irish_Armada said:
I'm worried that they may in fact be very real...
Click to expand...

Oh, they ARE very real. Fortunately, they are REALLY rare in typical GA airplanes, unless, of course, the Garmin products include RMI on their glass stuff.

They operate similar to an NDB/ADF and navigating by one works the same.
 
Irish_Armada said:
Starting to study for my IR written and it seems that these mysterious RMI contraptions are given quite a bit of emphasis and we need to know how to use them. Never seen one before -- do they actually exist? Do any of you have one in your plane? I'm worried that they may in fact be very real...
Click to expand...
A friend has one in his T-Bone. He's a retired airline guy and I'm guessing he liked having one in the airliners.

RMIs are most commonly configured for NDB but some can also be used with VORs. Like an ADF the needle point's toward the station but unlike most ADF displays the compass card rotates automatically to keep your current heading on the top. As a result it reduces the mental math required to track a NDB course and provides a little more situational awareness with either NDB or VOR.
 
Irish_Armada said:
Do any of you have one in your plane? I'm worried that they may in fact be very real...
Click to expand...
The G1000s include dual RMI indicators in the HSI display --- just the heads and tails show. In some situations they are quite nice to have, like when intercepting a VOR radial. And, really, they are not complicated to use. You'll be breezing through those questions after a little bit of thinking and study.
 
You'll seem em a lot more now that glass is making it's way into the fleet
 
airdale said:
The G1000s include dual RMI indicators in the HSI display --- just the heads and tails show. In some situations they are quite nice to have, like when intercepting a VOR radial. And, really, they are not complicated to use. You'll be breezing through those questions after a little bit of thinking and study.
Click to expand...

Makes keeping track of crossing radials on an approach real easy.
 
BillTIZ said:
Makes keeping track of crossing radials on an approach real easy.
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Yeah. I flew a complete VOR approach one time using only the RMI needles. Approach course, crossing radial for the FAF, ... the whole deal. It was kind of fun. I should go out and practice a few of those again; it's a great way to raise one's stress level on what the GPS makes into an easy approach!
 
Traditional RMIs are largely obsolete though there has been a bit of rennaisance in RMI-like indictators superimposed over electronic course indicators (HSIs). The FAA test examples are contrived and the horrid explanation in the Jepp materials is even more bizarre. Cram through the examples for the exam and forget about it.
 
Cool thanks for the quick responses. Seemed strange that it was included in the test prep but hey, the more you know...
 
Definitely still around: they make flying arcs be very easy and it's nice to have the #2 RMI be set to the next station when VOR-hopping as you can see the angle to turn (and hence lead distance) appropriately.

Easy way to think of RMIs: like any good sexual parter, heads fall and tails rise.
 
I have one in my Bo- dual needle, one for VOR, the other, ADF. LOVE IT.
 
GRT's avionics for experimentals has the equivalent of RMI. As pointed out here, they can come in handy for some things.
 
upstateny said:
Other than on a sim, I've never seen one. Fortunately, they're fairly intuitive.
Click to expand...
They're more common than many folks may think, since G1000's have them integrated into the HSI display. They can be very useful for VOR approaches with intersection stepdowns if the GPS isn't working, especially since G1000's usually don't have a second CDI for simultaneous display of two VOR's.
 
Aspen PFDs can display 2 of them in addition to the primary HSI needle.
 
They're real as real as unicorns and impossible turns. I know they exist but I've never seen one.

The key on those RMI problems is to pay attention to which knob/needle is tuned to which frequency.
 
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