compass swing

English

Noun

compass swing (uncountable)

1. (nautical) The process of swinging and compensating a ship or aircraft compass by determining and reducing the deviation coefficients and recording the residual deviations; now done by computer.
   • 2017, Federal Aviation Administration, “Standardized Procedures for Performing Aircraft Magnetic Compass Calibration”, in Advisory Circular‎^[1], numbers 43-215, page 1:

     This advisory circular (AC) describes procedures for calibrating an aircraft magnetic compass to minimize the effect of aircraft-induced magnetic fields. These procedures are often referred to as “swinging the compass” or a “compass swing.”