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Shift of Earth's magnetic north pole affects Tampa airport

The Giant Noodle

The Giant Noodle

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:shock: No reason to be alarmed..... :scared:


The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth's magnetic north pole.
The closure of the west parallel runway will result in more activity on the east parallel runway and more noise for residential areas of South Tampa.
The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It's been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south.
Later this month, the airport's east parallel runway and the seldom used east-west runway will be closed to change signage to their new designations.
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http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/05/060831/shift-of-earths-magnetic-north-pole-impacts-tampa-/news-money/
 
*hides this article from the 'humans-are-to-blame' crowd*

Can't have nature going off and busting their nut.
 
ludahai said:
Wait, you mean it isn't shifting because of the loss of weight due to the ice cap melting? :sarcasticclap
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yu might be on to something, there...might be a Nobel Science prize in it for you, unless Al Gore claims he thought of it first...
 
Hahahah I bet those crazy religious types come here and say that God did it to punish us. Aren't religious types silly?

(it's fun to just assign stupid positions to the other side!)
 
Not suprised. Remember reading about how the poles are slowly creeping into different destinations every single day.
 
dirtpoorchris said:
Not suprised. Remember reading about how the poles are slowly creeping into different destinations every single day.
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Yep. There's even a noticeable difference between magnetic north as presently located and north as the navigation aids show it. (since most of those navigation aids are decades old, they were aligned to magnetic north when installed and it changed over time) This is actually happening at quite a few airports.
 
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Deuce said:
Hahahah I bet those crazy religious types come here and say that God did it to punish us. Aren't religious types silly?

(it's fun to just assign stupid positions to the other side!)
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Please stay on topic and stop being such a bigot.
 
Deuce said:
Yep. There's even a noticeable difference between magnetic north as presently located and north as the navigation aids show it. (since most of those navigation aids are decades old, they were aligned to magnetic north when installed and it changed over time) This is actually happening at quite a few airports.
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I have to ask: Why are airports still using magnetic compasses?
 
GPS_Flex said:
I have to ask: Why are airports still using magnetic compasses?
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Using magnetic north is a very good control. Location based N,S,E,W shoud only be used on certain maps. Complexes with main pathways and features askewed from magnetic N,S,E,W mostly. Contracter to new locations friendly.

Not really sure how it applys to aviation though through and through.
 
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GPS_Flex said:
I have to ask: Why are airports still using magnetic compasses?
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In the event of a worldwide war that knocks out GPS satellites it will be necessary to use this system. It's a national defense and emergency point. Kinda like if there is an extreme solar event that knocks out all of the positioning equipment and the satellites go askew.
 
theunbubba said:
In the event of a worldwide war that knocks out GPS satellites it will be necessary to use this system. It's a national defense and emergency point. Kinda like if there is an extreme solar event that knocks out all of the positioning equipment and the satellites go askew.
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A war with the underground lizard people!?!?!? :shock:
 
ludahai said:
Wait, you mean it isn't shifting because of the loss of weight due to the ice cap melting? :sarcasticclap
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No man, haven't you heard? It's the Illuminatti trying to resurrect Atlantis before the end of the world in 2012. They are in cahoots with the Mole people and the Yetti. They are being directed by Louis Farrakahn from the great Wagonwheel Mothership awaiting the return of Elijah Mohammed and James Brown to create the new Tower of Power.
 
theunbubba said:
No man, haven't you heard? It's the Illuminatti trying to resurrect Atlantis before the end of the world in 2012. They are in cahoots with the Mole people and the Yetti. They are being directed by Louis Farrakahn from the great Wagonwheel Mothership awaiting the return of Elijah Mohammed and James Brown to create the new Tower of Power.
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Well, hopefully they will hold off until December 21st as promised... I want to get the Ironman Triathlon at Kona, Hawaii once before the world goes kalpuey....
 
GPS_Flex said:
Please stay on topic and stop being such a bigot.
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The point was trying to show how ridiculous it is to insert arguments and attribute them to the other side when the other side isn't actually making that argument. It was in response to the "it's all man's fault crowd" comment. There are no environmentalists who propose that the earth's magnetic field is changing due to mankind's activities. (well, nobody who is sane or has the least bit of understanding of science anyway)

My comments were not to be taken literally.

GPS_Flex said:
I have to ask: Why are airports still using magnetic compasses?
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theunbubba said:
In the event of a worldwide war that knocks out GPS satellites it will be necessary to use this system. It's a national defense and emergency point. Kinda like if there is an extreme solar event that knocks out all of the positioning equipment and the satellites go askew.
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The airport doesn't use the compass. Aircraft do. Runway numbers are based on the runway's approximate heading in relation to magnetic north. Magnetic north is used instead of true north because there's no way to reference and calibrate to true north in-flight. GPS has nothing to do with it, really.

Longer answer: The gyroscope in the aircraft's heading indicator has to be calibrated to something. The pilot has no way of knowing where true north is, exactly. So every aircraft sets its heading indicator to what the magnetic compass says, this way they're all referencing the same thing. Since the aircraft's heading indicator now references magnetic north, the runways also reference magnetic north to make it easier for the pilot to correlate runway heading with his own. While GPS could technically reference true north just as easily as magnetic north, it wouldn't make sense for the pilot's heading indicator to not match the GPS, and not all aircraft are equipped with GPS anyway.
 
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