Northern Passage

On my recent return flight from West Peavine to Shanghai my flight passed over the North Pole about seven hours out of Chicago. As we transited the Pole I looked in vain for signs of a pole, neon lights or any other telltale sign. But I was distracted from my look out the window by what I saw on the little TV screen in front of me. The flight path monitor always shows the plane's direction in relationship to the map but as we passed over the pole the little plane on the map started spinning and pointing in all directions. For a few seconds I was concerned until I realized that it must be due to being directly over the magnetic pole which must have confused the directional gizmo.