C-PAP machine transporting...be careful

On our trip to the Bahamas on Monday, my Dynon 100 was waaaaay off on the heading info..like 30 degrees and this has never happened before. The four of us had a laptop, cell phones and couldn't figure out what the magnetic interference was, until my buddy said, "I have my C-PAP machine in my suitcase."

I asked what it looked like and he said that it has a motor and a pump. Well, motors have magnets and that was what we decided the problem was. After we unloaded, the Dynon was spot on again, so, for the return trip, we moved the bag to the top of the luggage stack but the Dynon was still 20 degrees off. The course track on the HSI was correct but the whole thing was tilted at a 20 degree angle, so we lived with it since the Vizion autopilot was tracking correctly.

We decided that next time, we would unpack the C-PAP machine and put it between his feet, since I don't know the location of the magnetometer sending unit.

Just be aware of the effects of C-PAPs.

Best,

Just think, maybe all this time the Bermuda Triangle disappearances and anomalies were all due to CPAP machines!

Good Info

pierre smith said:

We decided that next time, we would unpack the C-PAP machine and put it between his feet, since I don't know the location of the magnetometer sending unit.

Click to expand...

Pierre,
Great Tip....as I travel with my C-PAP in the baggage area of my -6.
My Dynon remote magnetometer is located in the wingtip.
Let us know how this works out for you.
I know you are a smart guy!!

Most interesting to me, since I ALWAYS have to travel with my CPAP. I am going to assume that putting it down by our feet in the RV12 will put it far enough away to make everything happy.

Baggage area

Bob, my magnetometer is behind the baggage area. When we tried moving the baggage higher, it got worse with a 40 degree error, so my magnetometer must be mounted up high. As soon as we unloaded it was perfect on heading.

The Vizion performed flawlessly any way, but the whole HSI was tilted 40 degrees.

Best,

Thanks for telling the story about this. It certainly reinforces the sensitivity of magnetometers.

I was exchanging emails with Garmin support when trying to find a better location for the GMU22 installation on my RV-12; he joked that somewhere about 30' behind the airplane would work. Although that was humor, it drove me to put my GMU far out in the right wing. (...where God intended it...)

Gosh Pierre--

you had to do some of the pilot stuff!
Very good points for everyone to think about.

BTW--tell James hey!
Tom

Glad I had a UPPP (surgery) back when you could get it. The recovery was two weeks of pure ****, but...