The Directional Gyro

Directional Gyro

•Directional gyro is a flight instrument used in an aircraft to inform the pilot of the
aircraft's heading.

•Directional Gyro is also called as “Heading Indicator or Direction Indicator” the fastest
moving component in a pistonepowdered aircraft that can spin at up to 24,000 rpm,
400 revolution a second.

•It uses a gyroscope that resist change to its position. This is connected to a compass
card which move the aircraft heading and display the compass rose direction in 5-
degree increments.
When an airplane is turning the gyroscope will resist moving with the turn. The energy used to resist
the turn instead moves the compass card which will indicate the heading of the airplane.

•DG’s are used because they are not effected by any magnetic disturbances or have turning errors
inherent to the compass. They are susceptible to gyroscopic precession which are errors due to the
mechanical friction imposed on the spinning gyroscope.

•Its normal procedure is to realign the direction indicator once every 10 – 15 minutes during routine in-
flight checks. Failure to do this is a common source of navigation errors among new pilots