Date: 201809
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Climb
Airspace: Class B ZZZ
ATC / advisory: Tower ZZZ
Aircraft component: Compass (HSI/ETC)
Component problem: Malfunctioning
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain; Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Human factors: Human-Machine Interface; Troubleshooting
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew FLC Overrode Automation
Contributing factors: Aircraft
Primary problem: Aircraft

Narrative: We were climbing on the departure out of ZZZ. Somewhere between ZZZZZ and ZZZZZ1 we got an EFIS COMP MON caution message. The First Officer tried to align the PFD (Primary Flight Display) compasses with the stand by compass but it didn't work. I was the Pilot Flying and I was hand flying. I noticed that the flight director was taking us away from the route. I chose heading mode; but it didn't work either. I asked the First Officer to communicate with ATC and to get vectors while we tried to fix the issue. I transferred the flight controls to him and he flew from there on without flight director; and following the stand by compass. I tried to get the PFD compasses and headings to align with the stand by compass. ATC gave us a few compass turns. The white needles disappeared and reappeared a couple of times; also a green HDG message with a red slash in the middle appeared on the FMA a couple of times. The compass on my side was off and it was not correcting counter clockwise. I got it to work slowly turning it clockwise with the slew lever. Then the compass on the First Officer's side was completely off the route and it had a caution message on its PFD/MFD display. I thought about going to green needles but quickly concluded that if the gyros were faulty; the green needles would not work either. I also concluded that trying that; would only add more work to an already busy situation; for which there is no QRH procedure. We also got a XFLOW PUMP caution message on ED1 and a AUTO CROSSFLOW INHIBIT white status message on ED2. I checked for fuel imbalance; but we were well within the limits. We decided to go back to the field and landed. We were visual at all times and communicating with ATC; as they were giving us non gyro vectors. The flight was conducted in a safe manner following the instructions of ATC. We descended and were cleared for the visual approach into Runway XX; and also landed safely with no issues. On the ground the First Officer's PFD was showing we were 80 miles off ZZZ. The Gyro System and the Cross Flow Pump were reset on the ground and tested about five times. All the caution messages disappeared and all the compasses aligned with each other. No issues were encountered on the subsequent two flights. It was a very busy situation. I could have chosen to turn back right away and avoid all the work to try and get the compasses to work. We acted quickly and safely. Because we were in VMC; close to the airport; and communicating with ATC at all times; we decided to try and see if the glitch would go away.




Synopsis: CRJ700 Captain reported the aircraft compass system displayed incorrect information.