Attitude indicator
Overview
Flight instruments
Flight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with information about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as height, speed and altitude...
used in an aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
to inform the pilot of the orientation of the aircraft relative to earth. It indicates pitch (fore and aft tilt) and bank or roll (side to side tilt) and is a primary instrument for flight in instrument meteorological conditions
Instrument meteorological conditions
Instrument meteorological conditions is an aviation flight category that describes weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to instruments, and therefore under Instrument Flight Rules , rather than by outside visual references under Visual Flight Rules . Typically, this...
. Attitude indicators also have significant application under visual flight rules
Visual flight rules
Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the...
, though some light aircraft do not have them installed.
The essential components of the indicator are:
- "miniature wings", horizontal lines with a dot between them representing the actual wings and nose of the aircraft.
- the center horizon bar separating the two halves of the display, with the top half usually blue in color to represent sky and the bottom half usually dark to represent earth.
- degree marks representing the bank angle.
