When I used to fly Twa's polar routes in Boeing 707s between the U.S. West Coast and northern Europe, we often passed close to the magnetic north pole. We had to use gyroscopic polar-path compasses with predictable rates of precession to maintain desired headings. This is because conventional magnetic compasses are utterly useless when within about 600 miles of the magnetic pole. They dip, wander, and point confusingly in one direction when they should point in another. In those days, the airport at Resolute Bay in Canada's far north archipelago was close to the magnetic pole. I used to think about how much fun it would be to fly there in a light airplane and make a more detailed study of compass behavior.
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