Degaussing a steel tube airframe
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:39 pm
We have recently bought a Piper Cub and the problem we've got is that the compass which is mounted in the middle and on top of the instrument panel in the standard Cub position has a large deviation that is outside the normal compass compensation range. I need to degauss the airframe tubes at least locally around this area to enable reasonable deviation. I've checked its not the compass as have fitted a new one and that swings around exactly the same amount as the original. Because the aircraft has been fitted with a newly overhauled engine it was suggested that maybe the crank had been magnetised during crack detection and not been demagnetised but I have checked the engine and that’s not the source of the problem. Has anyone had experience of degaussing a steel tube airframe?