Madam P is right about the Eko connection to the bearing.

image here:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6380/3581/1600/Image25.jpg

Could it be that you have to leave the island on the same coordinates that you come in on. Otherwise you may leave on a different time continuum that you came in on?

I think 305 is the wrong bearing. Everyone is told to go 325. Even in the new Lost : Via Domus game, elliot (character) is told by locke to take 325. I think the whole memory-loss thingy with des was a setup from the start.

the difference in bearing between the helicopter and the boat could be that they started at a different spot, which was already stated but FYI assuming they are heading for the same point that would put the 2 starting point approx 14 miles apart.
the 20° difference could be also due to the magnetic declination. if we knew the exact location of the island I could calculate that difference.
also maybe the thing from miles to kilometers is just because they wanted to put a even number in instead of 4.37miles?

its kind of a late thought, but we re-watched the entire season saturday. In the second episode when it shows Franks flashback, he is dropping a toy plane in a tank of water and it looks like he is studying the way it sinks. It lands upside down. When he sees the "real" plane wreck on tv, the plane is right side up and he almost immediatly knows its some kind of cover up. maybe he was testing the way a plane sinks in water, and knows it can't land right side up

From my understanding of compass headings, they are dependent on your starting and ending locations. Therefore, if the "break" in the field of time disturbance around The Island is in the same place (longitude and latitude) all the time, then to hit it in a boat leaving from Pala Ferry you would have to take a different compass heading than you would taking a helicopter from the beach. Your starting location has changed in relation to the fixed position of the break in the time disturbance field, so your heading would change as well (325 degrees for the Pala Ferry to the break, 305 for the beach to the break).

Faraday was exposed to radiation "...like 20 times a day..."

And

he was crying at the news and did not know why he was upset....

because he did not know it then that he would be back to the island in the near future and be exposed to the "storm"

Good points Staggerlee!

The chopper deviated from its course (I think because of the storm, as suggested by loopist below).

At about 01:36 we can clearly see (although it's very fast) the compass and the needle thing moving from 305 to 31 (and a bit more). It would be interesting to add a screencap of this scene as well - too bad I can't provide one, though.

Btw, great website!

Faraday was wacko in his flashback though...crying@the 815 news on tv...did the storm do more?

They had the wrong course coming to the island to begin with. Upon arrival, the helicopter was met by a terrible storm (similar to its departure). During this storm, Dan (who was exposed to radiation all his life through his experiments), became 'unstuck in time' (which explains why he is so spacey, or has memory gaps 'cards') much like Desmond (who was exposed to magnetism in the hatch. Just a thought. Expand on this idea.

The rotor speed probably is just a prop error. Bearing indicators in aircraft are gyroscopic controlled and are initially calibrated to your regular magnetic compass before flight. (The reason being that magnetic compasses are prone to glitches during pitch and bank that you can avoid with a gyroscopic bearing indicator.)

They could dial the bearing indicator into anything they wanted on the ground for the filming while the helicopter was off. Much easier (and cheaper) than firing up the helicopter just for a 3 second shot.

Excellent point about the switch in mid-directions from miles to kilometers -- why would you do that? Unless "k" doesn't stand for kilometers... ???

A good observation was made elsewhere by a poster named Locke-Key: "If you remember on Eko's prayer stick it said Look North John 3:05."

Dun-dun-DUNNNNN...

well, we do know that the man on the boat is still there, and it's not Desmond or Syed. Someone unlocked their door - not sure yet.

I don't think Michael got away - I think he's still stuck on the boat he left on. This is where the time lag could help. Michael may think he's only been on the boat for a couple days, or he might be on there a long time (to explain Walt's growth).

I think Michael and Walt were sent on a mission from ben to intercept the boat and thats why he allowed them to leave, and also explains how Ben has "a man on the boat" They were probably able to get through with the chopper @ 305 but just barely

Two questions raised by this screen shot:

1. Why does the note say to go 40 miles north (@305)then turn east for 7 kilometers? Why change to metric distances?

2. Notice that the RPM gauge at the lower left shows zero rpm's. If this is showing the rotation speed of the main rotor, then the helicopter is sitting on the ground. The chopper was in the air when we were show this image. Continuity error?

Sorry, I see the on in the group of images above...but was it always rock solid on 305?

How about a screen shot of the compass in the helicopter? I can't remember, because of the storm did it waiver from 305 degrees at all?

Anywhere outside that specific line will cause the mind to lapse. Remember what our tied up friend spoke of. We went in a boat to go look at the island and then he went crazy so we turned around and came back. Sounds like the island is visible now but you need to enter in a proper course direction.

Does the heading change depending upon the point at which you are leaving the island?

Where ARE Michael and Walt? There has been no mention of them among the Oceanic 6. Don't you think that if they had returned home there would have been some mention of it in the media? Perhaps alongside the story of finding the plane in the ocean? I don't know where Ben sent them, but I'm willing to bet that they didn't just go back to their ordinary lives.

One thing we need to consider is that maybe Daniel's heading was off by 20 degrees. We never saw Michael and Walt go through the wall of the "bubble", so maybe they went through with no problem what so ever. Maybe the farther off from that point you are, the more violent the trip. Thoughts??

325 is probably the correct coordinates to prevent the "mind time trap" from happening. Farraday and the rest of the freighter don't have precise directions and therefore, some people get stuck in the time-trap due to the deviations of their trip in/out.

The helicopter got pulled from the 305 heading by the storm and that's when Desmond lost it.

I think Ben gave Michael the right course, but Daniel gave Lapidus a course to make Desmond do his "side effect" mental time travel. We can't have a paradox and change the past/future.

I have no doubt Ben gave the wrong direction to Michael. He would never let Walt leave. They've been going around in circles, in the process Walt aged ( grew taller, and hopefully Michael's mind blew a fuse!