Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Gyroscope errors

Asked by: 10038 views Aircraft Systems

Hi, may i know how exactly does Apparent Wander causes inaccuracy from a gyroscope?

From what i have gathered from the net, it states that Apparent Wander occurs without any physical movement of the gyro and it is due to the Earth's rotation. However, i still do not understand how does it affect the gyro and is considered as an error.

Help will be appreciated, thanks!

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. Patrick Flannigan on May 24, 2011

    Julian, great question. Apparent wander has everything to do with rigidity in space and the rotation of the earth. 
    The spinning disc of a gyro remains fixed in it’s plane of rotation. Imagine a ball (Earth). Now imagine a disc (gyro) spinning next to the ball tangent to the surface of that ball.  
    (  ){|   <– The gyro is tangent to the ball (or level with the ground)
    Our gyro is actually rotating with the Earth, so now visualize the disc orbiting the ball without changing it’s plane of rotation. That is, if the disc is parallel with one a wall in your house, it will remain parallel to that wall as it circles the ball. 
    {|(  )  <– On the other side of the ball, the gyro faces the same direction, but appears “upside down” relative to the ball.
    This is considered gyroscopic error in the aviation world because it a gradual drift of our heading indicator from magnetic north, which is not desired. 

    +4 Votes Thumb up 4 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.