In England, our country is positioned so that the top, (Scotland, Whity's and Crazy Craig's part), is pointing North, and the botton, (Cornwall, Woodlouse's part), is pointing South, and West and East are directly either-side, (Me and Fag-end), which is cool... ...!
So when flying/driving by compass we just fly/drive in those directions to reach our destination, easy-peasy...
...BUT...!
California where I fly, on my real paper map of California, or my real globe, the State appears to be vertical, (or near enuf').
So I think to myself, (as I do), if I want to fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco, which is "vertically up", (or near enuf'), all I have to do is to follow my compass Northwards...
...WRONG...!
I actually have to fly a course North-West.
The West coast compass bearing is actually South-West and the Nevada Desert, East-wards, is actually North-East....!
..and from 'Frisco to L.A. I have to fly South-East.
It's all very confusing flying by compass while reading a flat paper map...!

Does any one else have this confusion when relating their countries up-down-left-right lay-out in relation to the  actual compass bearing...?
(It's all to do with the Longtitude lines on the map.
If I could see Longditude/Latitude lines in the sky, there would be no problems)....!

...or is it just me*...!
LOL...LOL...LOL...!

Cheers...
Paul.
(England. Up, down, left and right, no prob...)

...*me, (probably)...!
LOL...!

(I also have similar problems with compass bearings when going upstairs to bed at night, in that situation it's just "up"...followed by "down" in the morning)...!
LOL...!

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Nah....!
I don't believe that... ...!
I don't venture too far off the Pacific coast of California in case I drop off the edge.... ...!

Cheers...
Paul.
(England).

..even Queen Elizabeth 1st. thought that Sir Walter Raleigh's fag was full of rat droppings....
It wasn't, of course.
Just ask Will, (Smoke-2-much).... ...!
LOL...!

Hey Foz ....next time you fly Calif, try traveling north to Vancouver Island and see if you can drop a message to our house...we are within walking distance of Courtenay Airpark.........you may find nice scenery if you travel towards the Pacific Coast by crossing the Comox Glacier......

You also have to consider magnetic variation and compass deviation! On the west coast, there's something like a 13 degree easterly error (from true north). Plus you have errors in compass readings due to magnetic interference from the aircraft itself!

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Blimey Ken...
That's going to take weeks, (months), to fly from 'Frisco to Vancouver in my T-Bird II Microlight.... ...!
(Just got my trusty Readers Digest Great World Atlas out)... ...!
Vancouver = 125* Long, 50* Lat. in Canada, very close to the North Pole, therefore quite, (very), cold. (I'm not happy with "cold", it causes my Bing carburettors to freeze*).... ...!

Cheers Mate... ...!
Paul.
(England).

...*not to mention "other" parts... ...!

  What say someone design a grid of longitude and latitude lines to past onto flight sim scenery so Fozzer doesn't end up as bear droppings after he runs out of petrol and crashes in the high Sierras...........LOL
  Only kidding.
   Cheers

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that's what i meant, the magnetic variation and compass deviation.

Reset the gyro every 15 minutes!

Is this a real civilian requirement? When I was working the labs in CFB North Bay we were required to certify that the gyro didn't vary by more than 1 deg in a one hour period. I'd hat to think how much drag there would have to be on the bearing to get that much precession in so little time.

Also trying to align the gyro to the the standby compass was strictly forbidden except as a last resort. Even with a deviation card in the plane you would have to turn to one of the indicated cardinals or semi cardinals to acheive a known deviation (calibrated error) before attempting this. Even then your primary heading indication is now less accurate than your standby.