Complex airplane systems
Hydraulics beyond the gear, higher-capacity electrics, and anti-ice and deice equipment.
13 min read · The complex airplane
After this lesson you can
- Describe the basic components of an aircraft hydraulic system and where else, besides the gear, it does work.
- Read an ammeter and a loadmeter and state what each needle position or reading means.
- Distinguish anti-icing from deicing and describe how boots, thermal systems, and weeping-wing systems each work.
- Explain the specific risk of an unequally heated propeller de-ice boot.
A complex airplane rarely stops at gear and propeller. The same airframes that justify retractable gear and a constant-speed propeller usually also carry a higher-capacity electrical system, a hydraulic system doing more than one job, and — on airplanes built to fly through more weather — some form of ice protection. None of these systems are exotic; they are the same basic technology found on simpler airplanes, scaled up and asked to do more.
This lesson is a systems tour rather than a single deep dive: enough to read the gauges correctly, recognize what a given indication is actually telling you, and know the specific limits of the ice protection equipment most light complex airplanes carry.
The rest of this lesson
- 1.Hydraulics beyond the gear
- 2.Reading a higher-capacity electrical system
- 3.Anti-ice and deice on the airfoil
- 4.Protecting the windscreen and the propeller
- 5.Reading the whole airplane, not just one gauge
- 6.Fuel and oil: the systems the engine cannot run without
- 7.The instruments that breathe: pitot-static and the gyros
- 8.The environmental system: heat, and where it comes from
- 9.Monitoring the automation: the risk the ACS attaches to systems
These 9 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the CPL track. Paid once, yours for good.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.