Saturday, October 24, 2026 · Morning warm-up
Capt. Mike's Question of the Day.
Two questions for the Transport Canada pilot written exams every day: a morning warm-up and an evening Captain's Challenge. Each one answered, explained and cited, free. Tap your answer to see how you did.
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Capt. Mike: Here's the question I asked that day. Tap your answer.
What is the function of the heading indicator?
The answer
4To give a gyro-stabilized heading free of compass turning errors
Explanation
The heading indicator uses the rigidity in space of a gimbal-mounted gyroscope to give a steady heading reference free of the turning and acceleration errors of the magnetic compass. Precession makes it drift, so it must be reset against the compass periodically (TP 12880E Flight Instruments — Heading Indicator; Gyroscope, 2 Inertia).
Source
TP 12880E Flight Instruments — Heading Indicator; Gyroscope
Taught in: PPL › Flight InstrumentsThis question is from the PPL course, which teaches every PPAER subject and drills it like this. Unlock all 7 chapters with their quizzes (105 questions), and 4 full-length PPAER mock exams.
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TC Exam Prep is independent and not affiliated with Transport Canada. The question and its explanation are ours. New questions go up every day: the warm-up at 9 am and the Captain's Challenge at 6 pm Pacific time.