So, this is a geeky issue that you may not see unless you're flying VOR or ILS green needles. I was flying the ILS or LOC Rwy 18 approach to Pine Bluff, AR (KPBF) looking at the teardrop course reversal. I was testing fly it in response to question I was asked, and I needed to fly it using just the VOR and the ILS green needles. A technique we learned a long time ago was when the CDI was centered, fly a heading that keeps the track indicator on the head of the CDI needle. That way, your track is following the course set in the CDI and you should not drift since the track indicator donut would be showing zero drift angle. Per the Collins CL650 manual, the track pointer shows the ground track over the earth. So, if it is aligned with the course arrow when CDI is centered, there should be no drift and CDI should remain centered. This is of course if you are using HDG mode to track the CDI instead of NAV/VOR mode, which is sometime easier if you're flying these types of approaches. Not everything is LNAV and VNAV!
While flying outbound on the teardrop course reversal (PBF R-022) for this approach, I was able to find a heading that kept the CDI centered. However, the track indicator donut was several degrees off to the right:
You will have trust me that did fly a heading long enough to find one that kept the CDI centered for a period of time. With track pointer showing as it is above, my ground track should be tracking to the right and away from the PBF R-022, and the CDI needle should be moving to the left. It's not. The CDI is remaining centered.
The MagVar for KPBF is 4 degrees East. Is it possible that in HS CL650 the Track Pointer is showing True Track instead of Magnetic Track? It looks like the track donut is at 026 degrees, just ever so slightly left of the heading bug of 027. Going by the saying "east is least", subtract 4 degrees from a true track of 026 and you get 022, which is the PBF radial I am tracking. That's the only thing that comes to mind as to what might be happening here.
If needed, I can try some more experiments. However, at first glace it looks like the track donut is showing True Track instead of Magnetic Track.
Thanks for your assistance!
Rich Boll