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com SECTION 3: GYROSCOPES AND GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS – PAGE 22

SECTION 3

GYROSCOPES AND GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS

Section 3-A: Gyroscopes Page 23

Section 3-B: The Attitude Indicator Page 26

Section 3-C: The Directional Gyro Page 29

Section 3-D: The Turn & Slip Indicator Page 31

Section 3-E: The Turn Coordinator Page 34

www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-A: Gyroscopes – PAGE 23

SECTION 3-A: GYROSCOPES

Gyroscopes are used in ships, aircraft, spacecraft, and a bunch of other applications to provide an orientation
reference. Within light aircraft there are normally three gyroscopic instruments installed (Fig. 3-1).

Figure 3-1 – Gyroscopic Instruments: The gyroscopic instruments (Attitude

Indicator, Directional Gyro, and Turn Coordinator (or Turn & Slip Indicator)) in
their standard positions within the flight instrument “6-pack”.
Figure 3-2 – A Gyroscope: Any spinning mass can
qualify as a gyroscope. Gyroscopes built for
instrumentation are almost always symmetric, shaped
either as a disk or a ring. The angular momentum of
the spinning mass is what makes it useful.

A gyroscope is simply a spinning mass (Fig 3-2). The angular momentum of this spinning mass results in two very
useful properties:

1) rigidity in space, and

2) gyroscopic precession.

It’s these properties that allow us to have instruments for tracking

attitude, heading, and turn rate in an aircraft.

RIGIDITY IN SPACE

Rigidity in space (Fig. 3-3) is the tendency for a gyroscope to

remain oriented in space, which simply means that the spin axis
will remain pointing in the same direction. This means that the
gyro can be mounted in gimbals, and as the base is rotated around,
the gyro will remain in place.

Rigidity in space is useful because the orientation of the gyro can

be used by mechanical and electrical systems to determine the
orientation of the base—which, in a flight instrument, is mounted
to the airframe.

Figure 3-3 – A Gyro Mounted in Gimbals: Each gimbal

allows the gyro to rotate around one axis relative to the
aircraft, enabling us to benefit from Rigidity in Space.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-A: Gyroscopes – PAGE 24

PRECESSION

So if a gyro tends to remain oriented in space, what happens if

we try to force it out of it's orientation? Well, the answer is
Precession.

PRECESSION: Precession is a behaviour of gyroscopes that

follows from forcing (or, more correctly, torquing) the gyro out
of it's plane of spin. If we apply a torque to a gyro that drives
it out of it's plane of spin, the momentum of the gyro reorients
the torque by 90° in the direction of the spin.

For example, if we have a horizontal gyro (with a vertical axis)

Figure 3-4 – Gyro Mounted in a Precession Gimbal: If a
torque is applied around the torque axis, the gyro will
that’s spinning right about it's yaw axis and we try to make it
precess—meaning that it will rotate around the precession roll right, it will instead pitch backward.
axis, reoriented 90E.

WHAT ARE WE MEASURING?

Rigidity in space and precession allow us to measure different

things.

Rigidity in space allows us to measure orientation, or angular

position. Precession allows us to measure the rate of change of
orientation. The terminology used to refer to these gyros is
what one might expect:
1) Rigidity in Space 6 Angle Gyros
2) Precession 6 Rate Gyros

The difference between an angle gyro and a rate gyro is in the

mounting of the gyro, not the gyro itself.

An angle gyro is mounted in two or more gimbals so that the

instrument casing can move around it and the gyro is unaffected
(Fig. 3-3). Each axis of rotation requires it's own gimbal, so that
a fully articulated gyro must have at least three gimbals—one for
each direction of rotation, and one for the direction of spin.

Rate gyros are mounted so that they are forced to rotate with the
instrument casing in one direction, and are spring loaded in the
precession direction (Fig. 3-4). The spring loading is calibrated
so that the deflection of the gyro is proportional to the rate of
rotation. This system requires two gimbals, one for the direction
of spin, and one for the direction of precession.

Both angle and rate gyros are used in aircraft instrumentation to

provide reference information for instrumentation. The Attitude
Indicator and Directional Gyro use angle gyros to provide
Figure 3-5 – Properties v. Instruments: Rigidity is space orientation and direction information (Fig. 3-5a). The Turn
(AKA – Gyroscopic Inertia) is applied in the Attitude Coordinator and Turn & Slip Indicator use rate gyros to provide
Indicator and Directional Gyro. Precession is applied in
the Turn Coordinator and the Turn & Slip Indicator.
rate of turn information (Fig. 3-5b).
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-A: Gyroscopes – PAGE 25

“ADVANCED” AVIONICS

Even modern avionics driving “glass cockpit” displays use gyroscopes. These gyroscopes are solid state and use
vibration instead of rotation, but the same principles apply.

High-end modern avionics sometime use ring-laser gyros, which operate on a completely different set of principles,
but provide essentially the same information.

Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) can provide navigation data independent of outside references such as GPS.
These systems also use gyroscopes, in conjunction with accelerometers.

POWERING GYROS

Power is needed to spin the gyros up to operating speed and, once there, to balance friction and maintain that speed.
Instrument gyros can be powered in a variety of ways. In aircraft, gyros can be powered by electricity or by vacuum
suction.

Electrically powered gyros are driven by electric motors powered by the aircraft electrical system. Vacuum
powered gyros are driven by air being drawn over buckets in the gyro rim. This air is drawn by an engine-driven
vacuum pump.

In a typical light aircraft, the Turn Coordinator or the Turn & Slip will be electrically powered, and the Attitude
Indicator and the Directional Gyro will be vacuum powered.

The reason for using multiple power sources is redundancy—if one power source fails, the other is independent,
and some gyros will keep working.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-B: The Attitude Indicator – PAGE 26

SECTION 3-B: THE ATTITUDE INDICATOR (AI)

The Attitude Indicator (AI) is one of the
Gyroscopic instruments of an aircraft (Fig. 3-
6), and is normally located in the key position
of top and center in the standard “6-Pack”
arrangement.

The AI is the instrument that provides direct

pitch and bank information, and is especially
useful when visual reference is lost.

Figure 3-6 – The Attitude Indicator: The AI is normally located top and center
in the flight instrument “6-pack”.

AI DISPLAY

The Attitude Indicator (Fig. 3-7) includes a horizon bar that divides the top and bottom half of the main display,
which is normally colored brown and blue to indicate ground and sky. In front of the horizon bar is a schematic
aircraft and a roll pointer. The schematic aircraft includes horizontal lines extending left and right to represent
wings, and a dot in the center to represent the nose of the aircraft. Around the horizon bar is a ring of angle
markings with several standard bank angles identified.

Figure 3-7 – The AI Display: The AI display is designed to represent a schematic view of the outside world in order to
give pitch and bank information.

The schematic aircraft and the roll pointer are fixed to the airframe, but the horizon bar moves up and down to
indicate pitch attitude, and both the horizon bar and the angle ring rotate left and right to indicate bank attitude.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-B: The Attitude Indicator – PAGE 27

SETTING THE AI

Before using the AI, we need to set the schematic aircraft properly. The schematic aircraft is offset forward from
the horizon bar, so there is some parallax error in the display that depends on how high or low you sit in your seat.
While the aircraft is sitting on the ground in roughly the cruise attitude, you should use the adjustment knob to move
the aircraft into the correct position for your seating position.

AI INTERPRETATION

Reading the AI is straightforward. It's

much like looking through a miniature
window at the real horizon. In fact, the
whole point of the AI is to replace the
horizon when visual reference is lost.

The horizon bar remains parallel to the

real horizon as the aircraft moves around,
Figure 3-8 – The AI v. The Outside View: The AI provides us with an artificial and it's position relative to the fixed
representation of the horizon for attitude reference.
components of the instrument indicate the
pitch and bank attitude (Fig. 3-8).

We can read the schematic aircraft against the pitch lines to determine pitch attitude, and we can read the roll
pointer against the bank markings to determine the bank attitude.

The only catch is when we try to read the

pitch attitude while banked. This is
where the dot at the center of the
schematic aircraft comes in. Rather than
using the entire line of the schematic
aircraft, we can read our pitch attitude
against this dot (Fig 3-9). In this way,
reliable pitch readings can still be easily
Figure 3-9 – AI Pitch Reference: The dot (or pointer on some models) at the center made while banked.
of the schematic aircraft provides us with a pitch reference while banked.

AI GYROSCOPE

The AI gyro (Fig. 3-10) is mounted in a

horizontal plane with a vertical spin axis.
The gimbals of the gyro allow free
movement in the pitch and roll directions.
As a result of this mounting, the AI gyro
can't provide any yaw information.

Yawing the aircraft simply moves the

airframe around the spin axis of the gyro
Figure 3-10 – The AI Gyro: The AI gyro spins in a horizontal plane with a vertical and results in no gimbal movement and
axis. It is gimbaled to allow motion in the pitch and roll directions, with the base of therefore no instrument indication.
the outside gimbal mounted to the airframe via the instrument casing.

However, Rigidity in Space enables the

measurement of pitch and roll angles through mechanical linkages between the gyro mount and the horizon bar.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-B: The Attitude Indicator – PAGE 28

POWER SUPPLY

The AI requires a power source for it’s initial spool-up and to overcome friction once up to speed. The power
supply for the AI is vacuum suction in most light aircraft. However, redundant or standby AI's can be electric.

LIMITATIONS

Because the AI operates on the principle of Rigidity in Space, it requires gimbal mounts to allow it to move freely.
However, in most installations, there are mechanical limitations on the gimbal mounts.

Most modern AI's can handle roll through a full 360 degrees without any difficulty, but pitch limits are normally
at plus or minus 85 degrees. Pitching beyond the plus or minus 85 Degrees limits results in the pitch gimbal
reaching a stop, forcing the gyro to rotate out of it's plane of spin and precess unpredictably. This is called tumbling
the gyro, and results in wildly inaccurate readings for several minutes until the gyro can right itself again.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-C: The Directional Gyro – PAGE 29

SECTION 3-C: THE DIRECTIONAL GYRO (DG)

The Directional Gyroscope (Fig. 3-11), also
known as the Directional Gyro or the DG, is
a flight instrument that indicates heading. As
the name implies, the Directional Gyro is one
of our Gyroscopic instruments. It is normally
located in the bottom center of the standard
“6-pack”arrangement.

The DG has a more stable display than a

Figure 3-11 – The Directional Gyro: The DG is normally located bottom and
center in the flight instrument “6-pack”.
magnetic compass (discussed later), making it
easier to read. The DG is also usable during
turns and accelerations. Finally, it operates
independently of the Earth's magnetic field, so
it's useful in areas such as the far North or far
South where the magnetic reference is
unusable, provided we have another
directional reference to set the DG from.

DG DISPLAY

The Directional Gyro (Fig. 3-12) display looks similar to a Vertical

Card Compass. It consists of a rotatable circular azimuth card with
heading markings arranged around the edge. The lubber line is
normally the nose of an aircraft silhouette which is fixed in place and
points up to the top of the instrument, representing the forward
direction.

However, it's important to note that—unlike the Vertical Card

Compass—the DG is not magnetic and has no direct reference to
magnetic North. It must be set against a magnetic reference, after
which it will maintain orientation due to Rigidity in Space.
Figure 3-12 – The DG Display

SETTING THE DG

The DG needs to be set off of an external reference. The reference we

typically use for this is the magnetic compass (Fig. 3-13) unless we're
in the far North or South, in which case we need to find some other
external reference—such as celestial bodies or known landmarks.
Figure 3-13 – Setting the DG: The DG is set using
We can change the reading of the DG by using the caging knob to
the knob at the lower left. The reference it’s set
against is usually the Magnetic Compass. disengage the azimuth card from the gyro and turn the card to our
current heading. The heading we choose to set is normally based on a
compass reading taken while on the ground or in straight, unaccelerated flight. The initial setting of the DG should
be conducted several minutes after engine start in order to give the gyro time to spool up to operating speed.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-C: The Directional Gyro – PAGE 30

PRECESSION AND APPARENT PRECESSION

During flight, the DG is subject to random heading changes, called drift, due to precession and apparent precession.
Precession is driven by friction in the gyro and gimbal bearings, and introduces a slow and random drift in the
heading reading.

Apparent precession is caused by the Earth's rotation. The term Rigidity in Space refers to the fact that gyroscopes
remain oriented relative to space, not the Earth. But we're measuring heading relative to the Earth, which rotates
once every 24 hours—about 15 degrees per hour. This 15 degrees per hour shows up in the DG as an apparent
error, and we call it Apparent Precession. Note that the amount of this error that you see depends on where you
are. At either of the poles, Apparent Precession is a full 15 degrees per hour. At the equator, it is negligible. At
points in between, we have some intermediate amount.

As a result of these influences, the DG needs to be reset periodically in flight. As a rule of thumb, resetting the DG
against the Magnetic Compass every 15 minutes should be sufficient.

THE DG GYROSCOPE

The DG's gyro (Fig. 3-14) is mounted in a vertical plane with a horizontal spin axis—parallel to the Earth's
surface—and the gimbals of the gyro allow free movement in pitch, roll, and yaw directions. It's the yaw direction
that's of interest to us, and yaw information is displayed on the face of the instrument as heading.

When the aircraft rolls or pitches, the gimbals

allow the gyro to remain in place, but no
information is transmitted to the instrument
face. But when the aircraft turns, the gyro
also remains in place, but the movement of
the yaw gimbal is transmitted to the
instrument face through gears and linkages.
This new orientation is then displayed as
heading.
Figure 3-14 – The DG Gyro: The DG gyro spins in a vertical plane with a
horizontal axis. It is gimbaled to allow motion in the yaw direction, with the base
of the outside gimbal mounted to the airframe via the instrument casing.

POWER SUPPLY

The DG gyro required a power supply for the initial spool-up and to overcome friction once up to speed. The power
supply for the DG is vacuum suction in most light aircraft. However, redundant or standby DG's can be electric.

LIMITATIONS

Because the DG operates on the principle of Rigidity in Space, it requires gimbal mounts to allow it to move freely.
However, in most installations, there are mechanical limitations on the gimbal mounts. Most modern DG's are
limited to pitch and roll of plus or minus 85 degrees.

Pitching or rolling beyond the plus or minus 85 degrees limits can result in one or more gimbals reaching a stop,
forcing the gyro to rotate out of it's plane of spin and precess unpredictably. This is called tumbling the gyro, and
results in wildly inaccurate readings. If this occurs, the DG can be reset manually using the caging knob. So once
the aircraft has recovered to normal flight, an accurate heading indication can be restored quickly.
www.PilotEffect.com
SECTION 3-D: THE TURN & SLIP INDICATOR (TS)
Figure 3-15 – The Turn & Slip Indicator: The Turn & Slip Indicator is normally
located at the bottom left of the flight instrument “6-pack”.
Figure 3-16 – The Turn & Slip
Indicaotr: Also known as the “Needle
and Ball”.
Figure 3-17 – Indication of a Rate-1
Left Turn:
SECTION 3-D: The Turn & Slip Indicator – PAGE 31
The Turn & Slip Indicator (Fig. 3-15) is a
gyroscopic instrument that provides us with
turn direction and rate information. It’s
normally located in the bottom-left position of
the flight instrument 6-pack. An alternate
instrument that may be in the bottom-left
position is the Turn Coordinator. Although
the Turn & Slip Indicator and Turn
Coordinator are different instruments, they
serve the same function within the flight
instruments—although they operate slightly
differently. Because of this, most aircraft
have one or the other, but not both.
The Turn Coordinator is discussed in detail in
the next section. For now, we’ll concentrate
on the Turn & Slip Indicator.
GENERAL SETUP
The Turn & Slip Indicator (Fig. 3-16) consists of a turn indicator and a ball.
The turn indicator indicates direction and rate of turn, and the ball indicates
coordination.
Strictly speaking, the turn indicator and the ball are separate instruments,
although they're usually located together on the same instrument face. So when
we talk about the Turn & Slip Indicator, we actually mean the Turn Indicator,
which is needle, and the Slip Indicator, which is the ball.
The formal name for the ball is The Inclinometer, and it's not a gyroscopic
instrument. Instead, it works with the balance of gravity and inertial forces that
occur as the aircraft maneuvers. The inclinometer is discussed in more detail
in a later section of this e-book.
DISPLAY AND INTERPRETATION
For interpretation of a Turn & Slip Indicator (Fig. 3-17) , the Turn Indicator is
a needle that points vertically up when the aircraft isn’t turning, and tilts left or
right to indicate a turn. The marks to the left and right of center, sometimes
called “doghouses”, indicate the needle position for a Rate 1 Turn.
The inclinometer is used to indicate coordination. When the ball is centered,
the aircraft is coordinated. When the ball is off-center, the aircraft is slipping
in the direction of the ball’s deflection.
Because of this needle & ball display, the Turn & Slip Indicator is sometime
referred to informally as the “Needle and Ball”.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-D: The Turn & Slip Indicator – PAGE 32

GYRO MOUNTING

The gyro of the Turn & Slip Indicator (Fig 3-18) is mounted with the spin axis horizontal and parallel to the lateral
axis of the aircraft. The gyro spins in a vertical plane.

The gyro is gimballed so that it can rotate against a

spring in the roll direction, but it can't rotate in the
yaw direction, meaning that it will always be forced to
yaw with the aircraft. It's the precession of the gyro
when it's forced to yaw with the aircraft that gives us
our turn rate information. Recall from the Gyroscopes
section (3-A) that this type of setup is called a Rate
Gyro.

If the aircraft pitches, the instrument case rotates

around the gyro in the direction of spin, resulting in no
change in the relative gyro position and no instrument
Figure 3-18 – Turn & Slip Gyro Mounting:: The T&S gyro is a rate
gyro constrained to yaw with the aircraft and to roll against spring
indication.
tension to indicate the rate of yaw/turn.
If the aircraft rolls, the spring loading of the roll axis
forces the gyro to follow the aircraft resulting in no change in the relative gyro position and no indication. This
rolling movement would cause precession in the yaw axis if the gyro was gimbaled in that direction. But yaw is
prevented by the mounting.

Finally, if the aircraft yaws, the gyro is forced to yaw along with it. The precession of the gyro will then cause the
gyro to roll out of position, but this rolling is limited by the springs in the mount. The springs are calibrated so that
the rolling deflection of the gyro is proportional to the turn rate. As a result, the deflection of the gyro can be
transmitted to the needle by mechanical linkages, and we get an indication of yaw rate, which we interpret as turn
rate.

BANK v. TURN

Both the Turn & Slip Indicator and the Turn Coordinator (discussed in the next section) indicate turn, but not bank.
Let's clarify this point by considering two example maneuvers.

EXAMPLE 1: WINGS-LEVEL YAW

If we yaw the aircraft with the wings level (Fig.
3-19), the Turn Indicator will indicate a turn in the
direction of the yaw at the rate of the yaw. This is
despite the fact that the aircraft is not banked.

Figure 3-19 – Scenario 1, Unbanked Yaw to the Right: The Turn &
Slip Indicator responds to the yaw and indicates a turn. Bank is not
required.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-D: The Turn & Slip Indicator – PAGE 33

EXAMPLE 2: BANKED BUT STRAIGHT

If we bank the aircraft but prevent a turn with
opposite rudder (Fig. 3-20), the Turn Indicator will
remain centered, indicating no turn. The fact that the
aircraft is banked has no effect on the indication.

Figure 3-20 – Scenario 2, Banked but not Turning: Despite the banked
attitude, the absence of turn results in a centered needle.

So the Turn Indicator displays turn information independent of bank information, which is not displayed.

POWER SUPPLY

As with any gyroscopic instrument, the gyro of the turn indicator needs to spool up to speed, and then overcome
friction to maintain speed. This means the gyro needs a power source. In most light aircraft, the gyro for the Turn
& Slip Indicator is powered electrically. It's also possible for the gyro to be vacuum powered, and this is normally
the case when there’s a second Turn Coordinator or Turn & Slip on board as a backup.

OPERATION

Turn & Slip Indicators don’t require any special operating procedures. They power up automatically when the
aircraft's electrical system powers up, and they're calibrated at the factory. So all we have to do as pilots is read
and interpret the information the instrument provides.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-E: The Turn Coordinator – PAGE 34

SECTION 3-E: THE TURN COORDINATOR (TC)

The Turn Coordinator (Fig. 3-21) provide us
with turn direction and rate information, and
it’s a gyroscopic instrument. The Turn
Coordinator is normally located in the
bottom-left position of the flight instrument 6-
pack.

An alternate instrument that may be in the

Figure 3-21 – The Turn Coordinator: The Turn Coordinator is normally located
at the bottom left of the flight instrument “6-pack”.
bottom-left position instead is the Turn & Slip
Indicator. Although the Turn Coordinator and
the Turn & Slip Indicator are different
instruments, they serve the same function
within the flight instruments—despite the fact
that they operate slightly differently. Because
of this, most aircraft have one or the other, but
not both.

The key difference between the two instruments is that the Turn Coordinator is also designed to give us some roll
information in order to improve responsiveness to the beginning and ending of turns. As we’ll see, this extra
information comes from the fact that the gyro gimbal is canted by 30E in order to detect rotation in both roll and
yaw directions.

The Turn & Slip Indicator is discussed in detail in the previous section. For now, we’ll concentrate on the Turn
Coordinator.

GENERAL SETUP

The Turn Coordinator (Fig. 3-22) consists of a turn

indicator and a ball. Like the Turn & Slip indicator, the
turn indicator indicates direction and rate of turn, and the
ball indicates coordination.

Strictly speaking, the turn indicator and the ball are

separate instruments, although they're usually located
together on the same instrument face. So when we talk
about the Turn Coordinator, we actually mean the Turn
Indicator, which is a schematic aircraft, and the Slip
Indicator, which is the ball.

Figure 3-22 – The Turn Coordinator: The Turn Coordinator
consists of a schematic aircraft—which serves as a turn
indicator—and an inclinometer, which is really a separate
instrument displayed on the same face.
The formal name for the ball is The Inclinometer, and it's
not a gyroscopic instrument. Instead, it works with the
balance of gravity and inertial forces that occur as the
aircraft maneuvers. The inclinometer is discussed in
more detail in the next section.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-E: The Turn Coordinator – PAGE 35

DISPLAY & INTERPRETATION

On a Turn Coordinator (Fig. 3-23), the Turn Indicator portion of the

instrument is a schematic aircraft that's wings-level when the
aircraft is not turning, and that banks left or right to indicate a turn.
The marks below the centered marks indicate the wingtip positions
for Rate 1 Turns.

The inclinometer is used to indicate coordination. When the ball is

centered, the aircraft is coordinated. When the ball is off-center,
the aircraft is slipping in the direction of the ball’s deflection.

Figure 3-23 – Turn Indication: This Turn Coordinator

is indicating a Coordinated Left Turn.

THE TURN COORDINATOR VERSUS THE TURN & SLIP INDICATOR

So far, this should sound very familiar. All of these indications are consistent with the Turn & Slip Indicator. So
what's different about the Turn Coordinator? The difference is that the gyro gimbal is mounted differently so that
the instrument will indicate aircraft yaw AND roll.

Note the distinction between roll and bank. Bank is an attitude, or an angle. Roll is a rotation, or a change of
attitude. It's the change of bank attitude—or roll—that the Turn Coordinator can display. As with the Turn & Slip
Indicator, there will be no bank indications. A deflection of the schematic aircraft usually indicates a turn, but will
also indicate roll such as the roll at the beginning of a turn.

The rationale behind this difference is that if an aircraft is rolling, it will eventually turn or yaw as a result. So a
Turn Coordinator can respond more quickly to the beginning of a turn, while a Turn & Slip Indicator requires the
turn to be established before indicating.

GYRO MOUNTING

The difference between the information provided by the Turn Coordinator and the Turn & Slip Indicator is due to
the different gyro mounting (Fig 3-24).

Like the Turn & Slip Indicator, the gyro of the Turn
Coordinator is mounted with the spin axis horizontal and
parallel to the lateral axis of the aircraft, and the gyro spins
in a vertical plane. The difference is in the gimbal
arrangement: In the Turn Coordinator, the spring-loaded
gimbal isn't aligned with the aircraft's longitudinal axis.
Instead it's canted 30E.

With this different mounting, if the aircraft yaws, the gyro

will still precess just like the gyro in the Turn & Slip
Indicator. However, the changed orientation of the gimbal
means that if the aircraft rolls, the gyro will still be rotated
Figure 3-24 – The Turn Coordinator Gyro Mount: The spring- out of it's plane of spin and will precess as a result. So
loaded gimbal is canted 30 so that roll and yaw are both
detectable.
rolling the aircraft will deflect the gyro against the rate
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-E: The Turn Coordinator – PAGE 36

spring and cause an indication on the instrument face.

Pitch indications are still absent since the aircraft simply pitches around the gyro's spin axis.

It's important to re-emphasize the fact that the Turn Coordinator will provide roll information, but not bank
information.

BANK v. TURN

Both the Turn Coordinator and the Turn & Slip Indicator (discussed in the previous section) indicate turn, but not
bank. Let's clarify this point by considering two example maneuvers.

WINGS-LEVEL YAW
If we yaw the aircraft with the wings level (Fig. 3-
25), the Turn Indicator will indicate a turn in the
direction of the yaw at the rate of the yaw. This is
despite the fact that the aircraft is not banked.

Figure 3-25 – Scenario 1, Unbanked Yaw to the Right: The Turn

Coordinator responds to the yaw and indicates a turn. Bank is not
required.

BANKED BUT STRAIGHT

If we bank the aircraft but prevent a turn with
opposite rudder (Fig. 3-26), the Turn Indicator will
remain centered, indicating no turn. The fact that the
aircraft is banked has no effect on the indication.

Figure 3-26 – Scenario 2, Banked but not Turning: Despite the banked
attitude, the absence of turn results in a centered needle.

So the Turn Indicator displays turn information independent of bank information, which is not displayed.
www.PilotEffect.com SECTION 3-E: The Turn Coordinator – PAGE 37

POWER SUPPLY

As with any gyroscopic instrument, the gyro of the Turn Indicator needs to spool up to speed, and then overcome
friction to maintain speed. This means the gyro needs a power source. In most light aircraft, the gyro for the gyro
of the Turn Coordinator is powered electrically. It's also possible for the gyro to be vacuum powered, and this is
normally the case when there’s a second Turn Coordinator or Turn & Slip on board as a backup.

OPERATION

Turn Coordinators don't require any special operating procedures. They power up automatically when the aircraft's
electrical system powers up, and they're calibrated at the factory. So all we have to do as pilots is read and interpret
the information the instrument provides.