Encyclopedia > Flight instruments

  Article Content

Flight instruments

Most aircraft are equipped with a standard set of flight instruments which give the pilot information about the aircraft's attitude, speed and height.

Basic flight instruments
A set of six instruments which most aircraft have.

Altimeter
Gives the aircraft's height (usually in feet) above some reference level (often sea-level)

Artificial Horizon
Shows the aircraft's attitude relative to the horizon. From this the pilot can tell whether the wings are level and whether the aircraft nose is pointing above or below the horizon.

Airspeed Indicator
Shows the aircraft's speed (usually in knots) relative to the surrounding air.

Gyrocompass
Shows the aircraft's heading.

Turn & Bank Indicator
Tells if the aircraft is turning and whether it is "in balance" ie, not sideslipping.

Vertical Speed Indicator
Shows whether the aircraft is climbing or descending relative to the surrounding air.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Springs, New York

... The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females there are 102.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 100.8 males. The median income for a ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 34.5 ms