Pilots receive information about the state of their aircraft like its speed, altitude, position and attitude through instruments and displays. These can vary from the simplest of dials and pointers to modern electronic displays.
Depending on the vintage and the complexity of the aircraft, and a simple dial can seem very different in appearance and sophistication from a modern cathode ray tube or liquid crystal screen. However, certain problems of range, resolution, accuracy and reliability are general characteristics of all instrumentation systems. We shall discuss the various instrumentation used in aviation under the following headings.
- Characteristics and General Definitions
- Pitot and Static Sources
- Air Temperature Measurement
- The Airspeed Indicator (ASI)
- The Pressure Altimeter
- The Vertical Speed Indicator
- The Machmeter
- Air Data Computer
- Terrestrial Magnetism
- The Direct Indicating Compass
- Gyroscopes
- Directional Gyro Indicator (DGI)
- The Artificial Horizon
- The Turn and Slip Indicator
- The Turn Co-ordinator
- Aircraft Magnetism
- Remote Indicating Magnetic Compass
- Inertial Navigation Systems
- Inertial Reference System
- Radio Altimeter
- Flight Management System
- Electronic Flight Information Systems
- Basic Computers
- Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS)
- Automatic Flight and Control Systems
- Flight Director Systems
- Autopilot
- Autoland
- Auto throttle
- Yaw Dampers
- Control Laws
- AFCS Revision Questions
- Warning and Recording Systems
- Flight Warning Systems
- Aerodynamic Warnings
- Ground Proximity Warning System
- Airborne Collision and Avoidance System
- Flight Data Recorder
- Cockpit Voice Recorder
- Power plant & Systems Monitoring Instrumentation
- Engine Instrumentation
- Electronic Instrumentation
Having seen the scope of Flight Instrumentation, let us start our discussion on aviation instruments by understanding the Categories of Flight Instruments available in an aircraft.