Flight instruments
The six-pack and beyond: what each instrument measures, how it measures it, and exactly how each one lies to you.
- 1The pitot-static instrumentsThe airspeed indicator, altimeter, and VSI all measure the same thing, air pressure, through two ports and one shared plumbing system.15 min
- 2The gyroscopic instrumentsThe attitude indicator, heading indicator, and turn coordinator all exploit a spinning rotor — and the same properties that make them useful also make them drift.14 min
- 3The magnetic compassThe oldest, simplest instrument in the panel needs no power at all, and pays for that independence with a long list of predictable errors.13 min
- 4Instrument power sourcesVacuum and electricity split the gyroscopic instruments on purpose, so that one failed source never takes every reference at once.12 min
- 5Engine instrumentsTachometer, manifold pressure, oil pressure and temperature, CHT, and EGT: the gauges that tell you what the engine is doing before it tells you by quitting.12 min
- 6Glass cockpitsThe PFD and MFD redraw the six-pack on two screens, fed by solid-state sensors instead of spinning gyros — the physics is identical, the failure modes are not.13 min
- 7Flying on instruments aloneWhat to do when the horizon disappears: control the airplane by instruments, turn back out, and recover if the attitude has already gone wrong.14 min