I ran into this the other day and wondered what everyone thought. I live in area with +12° variation, which can make the difference between saying I'm "Northeast (or NNE) of the field" versus "North of the field" when making an initial call to ATC. Or perhaps on my chart I'm pretty clearly NE (true) of the airport (the course line is slanted!) but it's the 88° radial of the VOR at the airport I'm headed to.
I know it probably doesn't actually matter that much, but in some places with larger variations it could be a bigger difference. In one case I went with "north" and was told to make a left base to runway 14; when I corrected myself that I was in fact more "northwest" they changed me to a straight-in.
It should be based on magnetic, right? That's what I've got my HSI set to and how the runways are numbered.
EDIT to add an example and image: imagine flying from YKM to PSC, your magnetic course is pretty close to 90°. Do you report to PSC tower "15 miles west of the field" or "...northwest..."?
I know it probably doesn't actually matter that much, but in some places with larger variations it could be a bigger difference. In one case I went with "north" and was told to make a left base to runway 14; when I corrected myself that I was in fact more "northwest" they changed me to a straight-in.
It should be based on magnetic, right? That's what I've got my HSI set to and how the runways are numbered.
EDIT to add an example and image: imagine flying from YKM to PSC, your magnetic course is pretty close to 90°. Do you report to PSC tower "15 miles west of the field" or "...northwest..."?