Instrumentation Explainer Videos
A complete walk-through of Instrumentation for your pilot theory exams: air data and pitot-static instruments, gyroscopic instruments, magnetism and compasses, inertial navigation and the FMS, and automatic flight from the flight director to autoland. Watch in order or jump to the topic you need. All videos are free.
Air data instruments
The Language and Design of Aircraft Instrumentation
The units pilots use for distance, speed and pressure, linear versus non-linear scales, how a three-pointer altimeter is read, the move from early panels to the basic T and glass cockpits, and instrument colour coding.
The Mechanics and Vitality of Pitot-Static Systems
Static, dynamic and total pressure, which instruments use pitot and static sources, what happens when a pitot tube or static vent is blocked by ice or debris, alternate static sources, and air data computers.
Air Temperature Dynamics in Aviation Performance and Safety
How temperature affects engine and aircraft performance and icing risk, temperature errors in the airspeed indicator and altimeter, direct and remote reading probes, total versus static air temperature, ram rise and the ISA.
The Pilot's Guide to the Airspeed Indicator
How the airspeed indicator measures dynamic pressure with a capsule, IAS, CAS, EAS and TAS, the white, green and yellow arcs, red line and blue line, ASI errors, and the effect of pitot and static blockages.
The Pressure Altimeter: Navigation and Performance in Flight
How aneroid capsules and gearing drive the altimeter, position, barometric and temperature errors, why cold air makes you lower than indicated, and setting QNH, QFE and the 1013.25 hPa standard setting.
Vertical Speed Indicator: Mechanics and Operation of the VSI
How the VSI's diaphragm and calibrated leak measure rate of climb and descent in feet per minute, why the needle lags, the instantaneous VSI (IVSI), the logarithmic scale, and common VSI errors.
The Machmeter: Navigating High-Speed Flight Limits
Mach number and how the speed of sound changes with temperature, Mach tuck and other high-speed hazards, how the machmeter works, the climb from CAS to Mach and back, MMO, and machmeter errors.
The Air Data Computer: Central Brain of Modern Aviation
How the ADC turns pitot, static and temperature inputs into corrected airspeed, TAS, Mach and altitude, the systems that rely on it, duplicated ADCs and standby instruments, and built-in testing.
Gyroscopic instruments
Principles and Applications of Aviation Gyroscopes
Rigidity in space and precession, attitude and rate gyros, real and apparent wander, gimbal lock, vacuum versus electric gyros, and ring laser and fibre-optic gyros.
Principles and Mechanics of the Aviation Artificial Horizon
How the attitude indicator shows pitch and roll, rigidity and precession, erection systems using pendulous vanes or mercury switches and torque motors, acceleration and turning errors, toppling, and pre-flight checks.
Principles and Limitations of the Directional Gyro Indicator
Why the DGI gives a steady heading where the compass swings, air and electric drives, real, apparent and transport wander, toppling, and resetting the DGI to the magnetic compass in level flight.
Mastering the Turn and Slip Indicator for Coordinated Flight
Rate one turns and the two-minute turn, estimating bank angle from TAS, rigidity and precession in the rate gyro, the slip ball, the dangers of uncoordinated turns, and turn indicator errors.
Mastering the Aircraft Turn Coordinator
Spatial disorientation and the graveyard spiral, how the turn coordinator senses both roll and yaw, slipping and skidding and "step on the ball", why it gives no pitch information, and its limitations.
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Magnetism and compasses
The Pilot's Guide to Terrestrial Magnetism and Navigation
The Earth's magnetic field, magnetic variation, magnetic dip, hard and soft iron deviation, long-term and daily changes, and the effect of solar storms on navigation.
Principles and Pitfalls of the Aviation Magnetic Compass
How the direct-reading compass is built and damped, magnetic dip, deviation and the compass swing, and acceleration and turning errors, including when the compass under-reads or over-reads in a turn.
Principles of Aircraft Magnetism and Compass Calibration
Hard and soft iron magnetism in the airframe, deviation, how a compass swing is carried out and recorded on a deviation card, coefficients A, B and C, and when the compass must be recalibrated.
Principles and Operation of Remote Indicating Magnetic Compass Systems
The gyro-magnetic compass, the flux valve, amplifier and precession motor that keep the gyro aligned with magnetic north, gyro topple, free (DG) mode near the poles, and heading outputs to other systems.
Navigation and computer systems
Principles and Evolution of Aircraft Inertial Navigation Systems
How an INS uses accelerometers and gyros to track position, bounded and unbounded errors, Schuler tuning, gimballed versus strapdown platforms, the IRS with laser gyros, and INS versus GPS.
Principles and Applications in Modern Avionics
The inertial reference system in practice: ring laser gyros and accelerometers, alignment on the ground, position drift and wander, strapdown systems, and combining IRS with GPS, the autopilot and the FMS.
Principles and Applications of the Aviation Radio Altimeter
How the radio altimeter measures height above the ground, its frequency band and operating range, how it is displayed, its role in autopilot gain scheduling and autoland, and residual height.
Computers in Modern Aviation Systems
Analogue versus digital computers, processors, memory and timing, analogue-to-digital conversion, safety-critical software standards (DO-178B), redundancy, and fly-by-wire.
The Flight Management System Explained
What the FMS does, its sensors, navigation and performance databases and the 28-day update cycle, dual FMCs, pre-flight initialisation, LNAV and VNAV, and managing climb, cruise and descent.
Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS)
The limits of HF and VHF voice, the three pillars of FANS: CPDLC datalink, GNSS navigation and ADS surveillance, FANS A versus FANS B, and how it allows reduced separation over oceans.
Enjoying these? Go deeper with the full Student Pilot Audio Course, or test yourself with the Question Bank.
Automatic flight
The Flight Director System
How the flight director turns navigation data into pitch and roll command bars on the EADI, take-off guidance and engine-failure speed logic, heading, VOR and localiser modes, gain scheduling and TO/GA.
Anatomy of Aviation Autopilot Systems
Inner and outer control loops, single, two and three-axis autopilots, coupling to the FMS, control wheel steering (CWS) and touch control steering (TCS), and fail-operational versus fail-passive systems.
Modern Aviation Autothrottle Systems
Speed and thrust modes, EPR and target airspeed, servomotors that move the thrust levers, reduced take-off thrust, retard before touchdown and go-around, and autothrottle safeguards and warnings.
How Aviation Autoland Systems Work
The autopilot, autothrottle, ILS and radio altimeter working together, approach, flare and rollout modes, crosswind handling, low-visibility landings, and fail-passive (LAND 2) versus fail-operational (LAND 3) systems.
Aircraft Yaw Damper Systems
Why swept-wing aircraft are prone to Dutch roll, how the yaw damper senses yaw and applies small rudder corrections, its limited authority, pre-flight testing, and what to do if it fails.
Aviation Control Laws and Flight Envelope Protection
The flight envelope, fly-by-wire protection of speed, angle of attack, pitch and bank, g-load limits, windshear protection, and how control laws revert when systems fail.
Ready to pass Instrumentation?
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