Abstract: An aircraft equipped for airborne vector magnetic exploration surveys comprising three magnetometers orthogonally mounted to measure the components of the earth's vector magnetic field; two rotation sensors mounted to measure the angular orientation of the aircraft; and a recording system to record the measurements of the magnetometers, and rotation sensors. The measured angular orientation is used to orientate the measured components of the earth's vector magnetic field to derive true vector aero-magnetic (VAM) data from airborne surveys. Also disclosed is a method for processing magnetic data by removing the permanent, induced, and eddy-current magnetic effects of the aircraft from the magnetic data.