Flight Instruments
Pitot/Static Instruments
Airspeed Indicator
Tries to figure out just the ram air pressure less accurate at higher altitudes and temperatures Fed by the pitot tube
- Takes in both ram air pressure and static air pressure Compares two different pressures
"Calibrated leak"
If you lea
Vertical Airspeed indicator
Tells you if you're climbing or descending Calibrated leak goes into the casing
Altimiter
Anaroid wafer stack expands and contracts 29.92 standard at sea level
Pitot/Static System Errors
Airspeed | Altimiter | Vertical Speed | |
---|---|---|---|
Front of pitot blocked, static clear | |||
Front and drain of pitot blocked | |||
Pitot clear, static blocked |
Gyroscopic Instruments
Ther's an engine driven vacuum pump moving gyroscopes in the system
Rigitity in Space
As long as a gyroscope is spinning, it will be able to stay in a "fixed" position
Heading indicator
Gimbal rotation
The airplane is spinning around the
Gyroscopic procession
Why do we care about this in the instruments
Turn Coordinator
Candted Gyro
Operates from electrical power The ball is just from gravity in fluid
Skid is tokyo drifting, you can end up in a spin On base to final you sometimes encourage a skid Also taking off and turning crosswind is when you'll spin
Uses rigity in space
Magnetic Compass
True north and magnetic north -> Magnetic variation
UNOS Undershoot north, overshoot south
ANDS Accellerate North Decelerate South
Magnetic deviation The metal in the plane interferes with the metal in the compass
Airplanes have a compass card that
VOR
Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range VOR Station
After "Tuning in a VOR" You can fingure out where in relation to the VOR you are
Pulsing and Sweeping signal
Course Deviation Indicator
If you did dual VOR navigation you'd ude two CDIs
You get the VOR frequencies from your chart
Turn the OBS knob to change the heading, tune in your CDI through OBS
Errors
Scalping - it will swing back and forth. you can still use it by averaging the center of where it's swinging
The US has a VOR "minimum operational network" where you could
You can use DME for measuring distance from a VOR
Distance Measuring Equipment
DME measures distance in slant range distance Not good at it's job when you're close and high. Accurate when you're low and far away
Do we need to know more than abode?
A VOR has DME most of the time if it has DME at all. twin oakes planes have GPS instead of DME
Horizontal Situation Indicator HSI
Usually wont have the analog version of this in most (Twin Oaks) cesnas The cesnas have a G5
Electronic instruments
Combines your entire 6pack into one instrument
magnetometer
Heading comes from magnetometer - located in the tail, the wing or in cesnas the strut. It measures the change in the flow of an electronic current
Air Data computer
rv12s 448 35H
Those iwthout an air temperature probe uses ... something else. Without the probe it cant calculate true airspeed
Attitude and Headeing Reference System
Combination of magnitometer, accelerometer and a fake gyroscope In the g5s it
Air inertia sensor ..??
Quiz
1. What are the primary flight controls? What do they control?
Ailerons - Roll
Rudder - Yaw
Elevator - Pitch
2. What are the secondary flight controls? What do they do?
Trim - Helps hold an attitude
Flaps - Helps fly a steeper descent at a constant airspeed. Greater lift for slower speed
Spoilers - Spoil the lift on the surface of the wing, putting the weight on the wheels
3. What are the 4 strokes of our aircraft’s internal combustion engines?
Intake, Compression, Combustion, Exhaust
4. What is detonation? Pre Ignition? How do you fix them?
Detonation - When the fuel/air mixture explodes rather than burns evenly
Pre Ignition - Hot spots on the cylinder ignite the fuel/air mixture early
5. Why is the propeller twisted?
Greater angle of attack at the hub to provide equal lift across the blade
6. How does fuel get drawn into the carburetor?
Venturi effect creates a low pressure zone, sucking the fuel into the air
7. Where does ice form in the carb and under what conditions? If it’s 60 degrees outside (F) can carb ice still form? 70? 80?
When that low pressure zone is formed, the temp drops and ice will form there. Ice can form usually under 70 degrees but when it’s hotter on the ground, at altitude it will most often be cooler, so the risk is basically always there. Even if there is no visible moisture in the air, like on a clear summer day.
8. What are magneto’s? How are they connected to the rest of the ignition system?
Self-contained electrical generator units with a spinning electromagnet inside that each provide power to one of each of the two spark plugs on each cylinder, essentially allowing for one of them to run the engine if the other one fails
9. How do carb and cabin heat work?
Air for the carb and cabin heat are routed over the exhaust shroud allowing the heat from the exhaust to heat up the air.
Scenarios
Explain what you would do or check in each of the following scenarios:
a. In the summer, climbing to cruise altitude and the CHT’s are in the red
Lower the pitch, reduce rpm, accelerate to increase airflow over the engine
b. At runup, you pull the carb heat and watch the engine rpm. Nothing changes
Take the airplane back to get checked out, some problems you will not be able to solve yourself
c. On takeoff, you appear to take longer than usual to get off the ground and your climb performance is greatly reduced. Density altitude is standard
Verify carb heat is pushed in and magnetos are on BOTH
d. In cruise the engine appears to die or cut out, losing large amounts of rpm for short periods of time
Likely carb ice, so pull carb heat and let run for several minutes