Airspeed Indicator
The airspeed
indicator is very simple to describe, it displays your airspeed in Knots.
Also, remember that your airspeed indicator will indicate your airspeed
in Knots Indicated Airspeed (KIAS). Some airspeed indictors do also include
an inner circle, this circle usually indicates airspeed in Miles Per Hour
(M.P.H).
Attitude Indicator (Artificial
Horizon)
The attitude
indicator represents the aircrafts nose up or down pitch in relation to
the horizon. Normal attitude indicators have lines representing nose up
or down pitch in Degrees (). The degrees are usually in increments
of 10�s with smaller lines representing 5's, (as shown in the diagram below).
Altimeter
An altimeter
displays the aircrafts distance from the ground, the distance is always
represented in feet. Altimeters show feet MSL (Mean Sea Level), which means
it displays feet above Sea Level, not above ground level. As barometric
pressure changes a pilot must change the calibration of the altimeter,
this is done usually with a knob on the bottom left of the altimeter.
Turn Coordinator
The
turn coordinator is an aircraft instrument which displays to a pilot information
about the rate of turn, rate of roll, and the 'quality' or 'coordination'
of the turn. The indicator looks like a little airplane seen from behind:
when the airplane is level, the rate of turn is zero; when it is tilted,
the amount and direction of tilt show the pilot the rate of turn. The wings
of the symbolic airplane line up on white tick marks at the level position
to indicate zero rate of turn. There is another set of tick marks below
the level pair. When the symbolic aircraft is tilted so as to align with
one of the tick marks, the aircraft is said to be turning at standard rate
of turn, which is 3 degrees of heading change per second. This is often
marked on the face plate of the instrument as '2 minutes', since it takes
two minutes to complete a 360 heading change when turning at 3's.
Heading Indicator
The heading
indicator (Directional Gyro or DG) is an instrument used in an aircraft
to inform the pilot of his heading. It is sometimes referred to by its
older name, the directional gyro, or (UK usage) direction indicator or
DI. The primary means of establishing heading in most small aircraft is
the magnetic compass, but that suffers from errors created by the 'dip'
or downward slope of the earth's magnetic field. Dip error causes the magnetic
compass to read incorrectly whenever the aircraft is in a bank, or during
acceleration, making it difficult to use in any flight condition other
than perfectly straight and level. To remedy this, the pilot will typically
maneuver the airplane with reference to the heading indicator, as the gyroscopic
heading indicator is unaffected by dip and acceleration errors. The pilot
will periodically reset the HI to the heading shown on the magnetic compass.
Vertical Speed Indicator
The VERTICAL
SPEED INDICATOR shows the RATE of climb or descent in feet per minute.
If the arm is below '0' then the airplane is descending. If the arm is
above '0' then the
airplane is
climbing. If the arm is on '0', then the airplane is flying level. Here
the numbers on the indicator are given in 100 foot increments. Above '0'
level, a 5 indicates 500 feet,10 indicates 1000 feet and so on ... The
indicator shows the airplane is climbing at 1000 feet per minute.
|