Flight Instruments | Instrument Flying

Aircraft became a practical means of transportation when accurate flight instruments freed the pilot from the necessity of maintaining visual contact with the ground. Flight instruments are crucial to conducting safe flight operations and it is important that the pilot have a basic understanding of their operation. The basic flight instruments required for operation under […]

Systems Preflight Procedures Inspecting the instrument system requires a relatively small part of the total time required for preflight activities, but its importance cannot be overemphasized. Before any flight involving aircraft control by instrument reference, the pilot should check all instruments and their sources of power for proper operation. NOTE: The following procedures are appropriate

Radio Altimeters A radio altimeter, commonly referred to as a radar altimeter, is a system used for accurately measuring and displaying the height above the terrain directly beneath the aircraft. It sends a signal to the ground and processes the timed information. Its primary application is to provide accurate absolute altitude information to the pilot

Primary Flight Display (PFD) PFDs provide increased situational awareness (SA) to the pilot by replacing the traditional six instruments used for instrument flight with an easy-to-scan display that provides the horizon, airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, trend, trim, rate of turn among other key relevant indications. Examples of PFDs are illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1.

In the mid-1970s, visionaries in the avionics industry such as Hubert Naimer of Universal, and followed by others such as Ed King, Jr., were looking to advance the technology of aircraft navigation. As early as 1976, Naimer had a vision of a “Master Navigation System” that would accept inputs from a variety of different types

Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) The HSI is a direction indicator that uses the output from a flux valve to drive the dial, which acts as the compass card. This instrument, shown in Figure 1, combines the magnetic compass with navigation signals and a glideslope. This gives the pilot an indication of the location of the

Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) As aircraft displays have transitioned to new technology, the sensors that feed them have also undergone significant change. Traditional gyroscopic flight instruments have been replaced by Attitude and Heading Reference Systems (AHRS) improving reliability and thereby reducing cost and maintenance. The function of an AHRS is the same as

Attitude Indicators The first attitude instrument (AI) was originally referred to as an artificial horizon, later as a gyro horizon; now it is more properly called an attitude indicator. Its operating mechanism is a small brass wheel with a vertical spin axis, spun at a high speed by either a stream of air impinging on

Flight without reference to a visible horizon can be safely accomplished by the use of gyroscopic instrument systems and the two characteristics of gyroscopes, which are rigidity and precession. These systems include attitude, heading, and rate instruments, along with their power sources. These instruments include a gyroscope (or gyro) that is a small wheel with

The Earth is a huge magnet, spinning in space, surrounded by a magnetic field made up of invisible lines of flux. These lines leave the surface at the magnetic North Pole and reenter at the magnetic South Pole.Lines of magnetic flux have two important characteristics: any magnet that is free to rotate aligns with them,