INTERACTING WITH

A FIGHTER PLANE

avionics
 When you’re in a cockpit,
you want to be friend
with the plane…

That you’ll do using the display

instruments…and that’s a part of the job.
The cockpit is a pilot’s world, consisting in needles on
clock faces and more…
Everyone has a name and a function
Here goes…
 If you have to take off, you need speed.
In fact speed is the essence of all flight…

You’ll know about the right speed watching the airspeed

indicator. This “clock” is a member of the pitot-static system
, so named because it operates by measuring pressure in
the pitot and static circuits. It working on air pressures,
indicating two kinds of speed: indicated airspeed (towards
the current position) and true airspeed (towards the land).
Western aircrafts display speed in mp/h or knots.
But eastern ones do that in km/h.
If you’re having bad luck and you’re indicator’s malfunctioning,
you’ll have to throw eyes on…
 The machmeter

A machmeter is also an aircraft pitot-static system

flight instrument that shows the ratio of the
true airspeed to the speed of sound, a
dimensionless quantity called Mach number. This is
shown on a machmeter as a decimal fraction. In
oposition with his previous brother, you have to do
some math to be aware of your speed. If you don’t,
you’ll probably loosing altitude and that’s the reason
for keeping an eye on the…
 The altimeter

An altimeter is an instrument used to measure the

altitude of a plane above a fixed level. This is also a
pitot-static system flight instrument, operating on air
pressures by the principle the greater the altitude -
the lower the pressure. But this device has also a
brother, operating on radio waves. It’s called…
 Radar altimeter

The radar altimeter uses the time taken for a radio

signal to reflect from the surface back to the aircraft.
The radar altimeter is used to measure height
above ground level during landing, warning the pilot
if the aircraft is flying too low. Of course, this can be
told also by the…
 The artificial horizon

This is a navigational instrument based on a

gyroscope providing an artificially simulated horizon
for the pilot. If you’re airborne, it probably be best to
know if your plane it’s flying not inverted as in Top
Gun movie. This instrument helps you to avoid false
sensations. If you’re not sure that the horizon tricks
you or not, then look at the…
 The vertical airspeed indicator

Also known as variometer, this indicator is a pitot-

static instrument used to determine the level flight.
The vertical airspeed shows the rate of climb or the
rate of descent, measured in feet per minute or
meters per second. This helps you to be sure that
you’re still flying, not going down…
Yet…you still need where to go. And that’s a job for
the…
 The compass
It is an instrument used to determin the heading. There are
two types of compasses – magnetic and gyroscopic one.

The magnetic compass is perhaps the simplest instrument

employed to indicate direction being used widely by sailors
and aviators alike. In airplanes, the magnetic compass is
primarily used for navigational purposes needing no inputs
for the pilot or onboard systems, therefore it is wide used in
all airplanes, from single-engine aircraft to large commercial
jets. However, the errors due to plane’s evolutions and
terrestrial field magnetic positioning make necessary the
use of the…
 The gyrocompass
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is
based on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of the Earth to
automatically find geographical direction. They have two
significant advantages over magnetic compasses: they find
true north as determined by Earth's rotation and they are
unaffected by magnetic fields. This means that wherever
you want to reach, you’ll probably not arrive in the outer
hemisphere…

These are all navigation instruments. Fortunately, someone thought that

it will be best to gather them into a single place…
The head up display
The Stick
 Flight data recorders

Popularly referred to as a "black box“, in fact there

are two types of these systems: FDR and CVR and
the’re not painted in black but in orange, for better
visibility.
A FDR (flight data recorder; also ADR, for accident
data recorder) is an electronic device employed to
record any instructions sent to any electronic
systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record
specific aircraft performance parameters. The data
recorded by the FDR is used for accident
investigation…
 …while a cockpit voice recorder (CVR), is a flight
recorder used to record the audio environment
inside the cabin of an aircraft for the purpose of
investigation of accidents and incidents. Like the
flight data recorder (FDR), the CVR is typically
mounted in the tail section of an airplane to
maximize its survival in a crash, but is used mostly
on commercial planes. On jet fighters FDR and
CVR are merged in one standalone box.

This should do about knowing the plane from inside

and…
…if you’ve get familiar interacting with a jet
fighter, it’s probably time to make a flight
without worrying for having a crash, because
we’ll know what will be happening…

Enjoy your flight!