Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

to calculate magnetic heading

Asked by: 9141 views Flight Instructor

If true heading from airport A to airport B was measured as 075º true, and the magnetic variation at airport A is 4º east, then what would be the magnetic heading at airport A?

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. Skyfox on Dec 07, 2016

    There’s a little rhyme taught in private pilot ground school, “East is least, west is best.” Least meaning less, meaning subtraction, with the opposite (best) meaning addition. So, you take the 75º true course you measured from the chart with your plotter and apply the magnetic variation in the same way. Since it’s 4º east variation you’d subtract it from your true course to get…well, I think you can figure it out the rest of the way.

    By the way, since you described them as true heading and magnetic heading, that implies you’ve already applied your wind correction angle to the true course to turn it into true heading, which in turn once you apply magnetic variation will convert it into magnetic heading just the same.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 4 Votes Thumb down 1 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.