PITOT- STATIC SYSTEM

- Is connected to the airplane’s oximeter, air speed indicator and vertical speed
indicator; these instruments tell the pilot how high, fast they’re going or how
fast they climb or descend, it is determined by measuring the pressure of the
atmosphere.

Pitot- static system gathers its information from two sources:

1. Pitot tube- measure the pressure of the air as the plane is flying. In smaller
aircraft the tube is located under the wings. At the back of the tube there’s a drain
hole, where it allows any rain or water to drain out and not go into the system.
Lastly, the tube can be heated to prevent ice from forming at tube where
sometimes it block the hole and can create malfunctions.
2. Static Port- located on the side of an aircraft and functions as a small air inlet. Its
purpose is to measure static air pressure, also known as barometric pressure.
The pressure within the static port is collected and then utilized by the altimeter
and the vertical speed indicator (VSI)

THE ATMOSPHERE

- The molecules in the surface of the earth are much more compacted than to
the molecules up in the space and the reason behind this is gravity.
Take note: air is matter; it has weight so all the air molecules are pushed
down.
: There’s a higher pressure into the sea level than into the top of the
mountain.

PITOT- STATIC INSTRUEMENT:

1. ALTIMETER- It displays the airplane’s altitude. A location's distance above sea

level. Most altimeters are barometric, meaning they measure altitude by
calculating the location's air pressure. Air pressure decreases as altitude
increases. As we increase altitude the static pressure goes down; this means
that the air escaped and results to less air pressure and vice versa.
- It contains three hands; the 10,000 foot, 1,000 foot and the 100 foot, it spins
clockwise and counter- clockwise to display the appropriate altitude.
- A.K.A sensitive altimeter; it can be adjusted for the current atmospheric
pressure it is because the pressure in the earth never stays the same
2. VERTICAL SPEED INDIATOR (VSI) only uses the information from the static
port. It measures the vertical speed of the aircraft in terms of Feet per Minute.
Inside the VSI is a diaphragm (has a direct connection to the static port and
equals to the pressure outside) connected to the Mechanical Linkages.
 Case pressure- the connection between the static port and case pressure
is called the calibrated leak; a tiny hole which limits the pressure of the
case can change.
When the plane climbs or descend the diaphragm pressure will change
instantly and the case pressure changes slowly.

3. AIRSPEED INDICATOR- uses both static port and pitot tube. It is a flight
instrument indicating the airspeed of an aircraft in kilometers per hour (km/h),
knots (kn), miles per hour (MPH) and/or meters per second (m/s). The
recommendation by ICAO is to use km/h, however knots is currently the most
used unit. It displays 2 different colors; green arc is for normal operations, the
white arc is when you’re allowed to extend the flaps, the yellow arc is limited to
fly in smooth air only and the red line indicated the maximum allowed speed.
The greater the pressure the more the diaphragm expand.

Ram pressure – Static Pressure = Dynamic Pressure (Total Pressure)