Republic of the Philippines

PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

Subject Module: Aircraft Instruments

Subject Code: AMT

I. Module No. 1 Title: Introduction to Basic Flight Instruments

II. Learning Outcomes

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOME (CLO)

CLO 1.
The students would be able MODULE LEARNING OUTCOME
to list terminologies related (MLO)
to aircraft instrument system MLO 1. TOPIC LEARNING OUTCOME (TLO)
used by an aircraft mechanic Students will be able to
and technician for cockpit describe and understand TLO 1.
inspection and cockpit and interpret aircraft Students will be able to describe
maintenance. instruments in order to the methods of compensating
CLO 2. fly safely. instrument mechanisms for
Demonstrate how the MLO 2. temperature variations and the
operating principles and To know the instrument’s reasons for hermetically sealing
features of aircraft flight vital importance on the instruments.
instrument system, including operation of the aircraft, TLO 2.
the pitot-static, airspeed helping the pilot maintain Discuss importance of knowing
indicator, angle of attack, control and identify any errors associated on aircraft
gyroscope and miscellaneous potential issues at a instruments. Discuss the
flight instrument system for glance. importance of maintaining
efficient inspection and impact pressure chambers on
maintenance on the aircraft. all aircraft instruments for
CLO 3. aircraft maintenance
Discuss the function and inspections and instrument
operation of engine efficiency.
instrument system including TLO 3.
tachometer, temperature Discuss that the Pitot-Static
indicator, fuel flow, oil system and the aircraft
pressure, fuel pressure, oil Instruments who rely on air
temperature, exhaust nozzle pressure and speed and its
indicator and torque system functionalities for aircraft
for efficient operation and maintenance inspections.
testing for efficiency when
flight.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

III. Table of Contents

Title Page Time Allotment (minutes)
A. Introduction to aircraft instruments 2 50
B. Requirements 7 10
C. Instrument panel 8 10
D. Standard 9 10
Activity Lecture 10 40
Activity Laboratory 10 40
Online Quiz No. 1 10 40
References 11 -
Recitation 11 40
Honesty Clause 13 5
Prepared by: Mr
IV. Content

(NOTE) The presentation on Google sheets or Power-point will be sent or shared

through google classroom or sent on a group chat in Messenger Application.
Confirmation of received presentation will be sent via screenshot sent with the
assignment.

A. Module Discussion: (Content)

In the days of the first successful airplanes the problems of operating them
and their engines according to strict and complicated procedures, of navigating
over long distances day or night under all weather conditions, were, of course,
problems of the future. They were, no doubt, envisaged by the then enthusiastic
pioneers of flight, but were perhaps somewhat overshadowed by the thrills of
taking to the air, maneuvering and landing. Such airplanes as these pioneers flew
were rather 'stick and string' affairs with somewhat temperamental engines, the
whole combination being maneuvered by a pilot lying, sitting or crouching
precariously in the open, for the luxury of a cockpit was also still to come.
Instruments designed specifically for use in an aero plane were also non-existent;
after all, what instrument manufacturer at the time had had the necessity of
designing, for example, an instrument to show how fast a man and a machine could
travel through the air?
It is a little difficult to say exactly in what sequence instruments were
introduced into airplanes. A magnetic compass was certainly an early acquisition
as soon as pilots attempted to fly from A to B, and flying greater distances would
have required information as to how much petrol was in the tank, so a contents
gauge was fitted, usually taking the form of a glass sight gauge. Somewhere along

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

the line the clock found its place and was useful as a means of calculating speed
from a time distance method, and as an aid to navigation. With such supplementary
aids a pilot was able to go off into the third dimension flying mainly by his direct
senses and afterwards boasting perhaps that instruments would not be needed
anyway! As other pioneers entered the field many diverse aero plane designs
appeared, some of which were provided with an enclosure for the pilot and a
wooden board on which the then available instruments could be mounted. Thus the
cockpit and instrument panel were born.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, some attention was given to
the development of instruments for use on military and naval airplanes, and the
first principles of air navigation were emerging with designs for instruments
specially adapted for the purpose. Consequently, a few more instruments appeared
on the dashboards of certain types of aeroplane including an altimeter, airspeed
indicator and the first engine instruments - an r.p.m. indicator and an oil pressure
gauge.
During the war years very few new instruments were provided in the many
types of airplanes produced. A requirement did arise for the indication of an
aeroplane's pitch and bank attitude, which led to the introduction of the fore-and-
aft level and the cross-level. The former instrument consisted of a specially
constructed glass tube containing a liquid which moved up and down against a
graduated scale, and the latter was a specially adapted version of the simple spirit
level. The main progress of the war years as far as instruments "were concerned
was in the development of the existing types to higher standards of accuracy,
investigation of new principles, and the realization that instruments had to be
designed specifically to withstand vibration, acceleration, temperature change, and
so on. It was during this period that aircraft instruments became a separate but
definite branch of aviation.

After the war, aviation entered what may be termed its second pioneering
stage in which ex-wartime pilots flew air routes never before attempted. In 19 19,
for example, Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop Atlantic crossing; in the
same year the Australian brothers Keith and Ross Smith made the first flight from
England to Australia. Flights such as these and others carried out in the 1920s were
made in military aircraft and with the aid of the same instrument types as had been
used in wartime. Although these flightslaid the foundation for the commercial
operation of the aeroplane, it was soon realized that this could not be fully
exploited until flights could be safely carried out day and night and under adverse

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

weather conditions. It had already been found that pilots soon lost their sense of
equilibrium and had difficulty in controlling an aeroplane when external references
were obscured. Instruments were therefore required to assist the pilot in
circumstances which became known as 'blind flying conditions'. The first and most
important step in this direction was the development of the turn indicator based on
the principles of the gyroscope. This instrument, in conjunction with the magnetic
compass, became an extremely useful blind-flying aid, and when a bank indicator
was later added to the turn indicator, pilots were able, with much atience and skill,
to fly 'blind' by means of a small group of instruments.
However, progress in the design of aeroplanes and engines developed to
a stage where it was essential to provide more aids to further the art of blind flight.
An instrument was required which could replace the natural horizon reference and
could integrate the information hitherto obtained from the cross-level and the
fore-andaft level. It was also necessary to have some stable indication of heading
which would not be affected by acceleration and turning manoeuvres which had
for long been a source of serious errors in the magnetic compass. The outcome of
investigations into the problem was the introduction of two more instruments
utilizing gyroscopic principles, namely the gyro horizon and the directional gyro,
both of which were successfully proved in the first ever instrument flight in 1929.
At this time the sensitive altimeter and the rate-of-climb indicator had also
appeared on the instrument panel ('dashboard' was now rather a crude term!),
together with more engine instruments. Engines were being supercharged
and so the 'boost' pressure gauge came into vogue; temperatures of oil and liquid
cooling systems and fuel pressures were required to be known, and consequently
another problem arose - instrument panels were getting a little overcrowded.
Furthermore, these instruments, essential though they were, were being grouped
on the panel in a rather haphazard manner, and this made it somewhat difficult for
pilots to assimilate the indications, to interpret them and to base on them a definite
course of action. Thus, by about the middle f 930s grouping of instruments became
more rationalized so that 'scanning distance' between instruments was
reduced to a minimum. The most notable result of rationalization was the
introduction of the separate 'blind flying panel' containing the airspeed indicator,
altimeter, gyro horizon, directional gyro, rateof- climb indicator (vertical speed)
and turn-and-bank indicator. This method of grouping the flight instruments has
continued up to the present day.
A further step in relieving the pilot's work load was made when navigator,
radio operator and flight engineer stations were introduced, becoming standard

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

features during World War 11. It thus became possible to mount the instruments
appropriate to the crew member's duties on separate panels at his station, leaving
the pilot with the instruments essential for the flight handling of the aircraft. One
of the most outstanding developments resulting from the war years was in the field
of navigation, giving rise notably to the fullscale use of the remote-transmitting
compass system in conjunction with such instruments as air and ground position
indicators, and air mileage units. Flight instruments had been improved, most
instruments for engine operation were now designed for electrical operation, and
as an aid to conserving panel space more dual-type instruments had been
introduced. Another development which took place, and one which changed the
picture of aviation, was that of the gas turbine engine. As a prime mover, it opened
up many possibilities: more power could be made available, greater speeds and
aItitudes were possible, aircraft could be made 'cleaner' aerodynamically; and
being simpler in its operation than the piston engine, the systems required for its
operation could also be made simpler. From the instrument point of view the
changeover was gradual and initially did not create a sudden demand for
completely new types of instrument. The rotational speeds of turbine engines were
much higher than those of piston engines and so r.p.m. indicators had to be
changed accordingly, and a new parameter, gas temperature, came into existence
which necessitated an additional thermometer, but apart from these two, existing
engine and flight instruments could still be utilized.

In the aircraft electrical and electronic field advances were also being
made so that new measuring technqiues were possible for instruments; for
example, the measurement of fuel quantity by means of special types of capacitor
located in the fuel tanks, electrically-operated gyro horizons and turn and bank
indicators providing for greater stability and better performance at high altitudes
than their air-driven counterparts. As a result of rapid growth of radio aids to
navigation, specific 'radio aid' instruments were also introduced to present
additional information for use in conjunction with that provided by the standard
flight and navigation instruments. Although these were essential for the
safe operation of aircraft, particularly during the approach and landing phases of
flight, the pilot's workload was increased and it was foreseen that eventually the
locating of separate instruments on panels would once more become a problem. It
was therefore natural for an integration technique to be developed whereby the
data from a number of instrument sources could be presented in a single display.
Thus, integrated flight instrument and flight director systems were evolved, and

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

are now a standard instrumentation feature of many types of aircraft currently in

service, not only for the display of primary flight data, but also for the monitoring
of advanced automatic flight control systems. The display of more varied data
covering the performance of engines and systems also became necessary with the
growing complexity of engines, and so the number of separate indicators
increased.
However, the application of miniaturized electrical and electronic
components, and of micro-circuit techniques, has permitted large reductions in the
dimensions of instrument cases thereby helping to keep panel space requirements
within reasonable bounds. Furthermore, it has led to the up-dating of an early data
presentation method, namely the vertical scale, for the engine instruments of a
number of today's aircraft. Another technique now applied as a standard feature
of turbine engine instrumentation is based on one successfully developed
in the late 1940s, i.e. the control of engine speed and gas temperature by the
automatic regulation of fuel flow. In this technique the signals generated by the
standard tachometer generators and by thermocouples are also processed
electronically and are used to position the appropriate fuel control valve system.
From this very brief outline of instrument development it will be particularly noted
that this has for the most part been based on 'a quart into a pint pot' philosophy,
and has been continuously directed to improving the methods of presenting
relevant data.
This has been a natural progression, and development in these areas will
continue to be of the utmost importance, paralleling as it does the increasing
complexity of aircraft and their systems. As the controller of a 'man-machine loop'
and in developing and ~perating the machine, man has been continually reminded
of the limitations of his natural means of sensing and processing control
information.
However, in the scientific and technical evolutionary processes,
instrument layout design and data presentation methods have become a
specialized part of ergonomics, or the study of man in his working environment;
this, together with the rapid strides made in avionics,culminates in the provision of
electronic display instruments, computerized measuring elements, integrated
instrument and flight control systems for fully automatic control, enabling man to
deal withban expanding task within the normal range of human performance.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

B. Requirements and Standards

The formulation and control of airworthiness requirements as they are
called, and the recommended standards to which raw materials, instruments and
other equipment should be designed and manufactured, are established in the
countries of design origin, manufacture and registration, by government
departments and/or other legally constituted bodies. The international operation of
civil aircraft necessitates international recognition that aircraft do, in fact, comply
with their respective national airworthiness requirements.
As a result, international standards of airworthiness are also laid down by
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These standards do not replace
national regulations, but serve to define the complete minimum international basis
for the recognition by countries of airworthiness certification. It is not intended to
go into all the requirements - these take up volumes in themselves - but rather to
extract those related essentially to instruments; by so doing a useful foundation
can be laid on which to study operating principles and how they are applied in
meeting the requirements.

Location, Visibility and Grouping of Instruments

1. AI1 instruments shall be located so that they can be read easily by the
appropriate member of the flight crew.
2. When illumination of instruments is provided there shall be sufficient
illumination to make them easily readable and discernible by night.
Instrument lights shall be installed in such a manner that the pilot's eyes
are shielded from their direct rays and that no objectionable reflections
are visible to him.
3. Flight, navigation and power-plant instruments for use by a pilot shall be
plainly visible to him from his station with the minimum practicable
deviation from his normal position and line of vision when he is looking out
and forward along the flight path of the aircraft.
4. All flight instruments shall be grouped on the instrument panel and, as far as
practicable, symmetrically disposed about the vertical plane of the pilot's
forward vision.
5. All the required power-plant instruments shall be conveniently grouped on
instrument panels and in such a manner that they may be readily seen by
the appropriate crew member.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

6. In multi-engined aircraft, identical power-plant instruments for the several

engines shall be located so as to prevent any misleading impression as to
the engines to which they relate.

C. Instrument Panels
The vibration characteristics of instrument panels shall be such as not
to impair seriously the accuracy of the instruments or to damage them. The
minimum acceptable vibration insulation characteristics are established by
standards formulated by the appropriate national organization.

Instruments to be Installed

Flight and Navigation Instruments

1. Altimeter adjustable for changes in barometric pressure
2. Airspeed indicator
3. Vertical speed indicator
4. Gyroscopic bank-and-pitch attitude indicator
5. Gyroscopic rate-of-turn indicator (with bank indicator)
6. Gyroscopic direction indicator
7. Magnetic compass
8. Outside air temperature indicator
9. Clock

D. Standards
In the design and manufacture of any product, it is the practice to comply
with some form of specification the purpose of which is to ensure conformity
with the required production processes, and to set an overall standard for
quality of the product and reliability when ultimately performing its intended
function. Specifications, or standards as they are commonly known, are
formulated at both
national and international levels by specialized organizations. For
example, in the United Kingdom, the British Standards Institution . is the
recognized body for the preparation and promulgation of national standards and

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

codes of practice, and it represents the United Kingdom in the International

Organization for Standardization (ISO), in the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) and in West European organizations performing comparable
functions.
Standards relate to all aspects of engineering and as 'a result vast
numbers are produced and issued in series form corresponding to these aspects.
As far as aircraft instruments and associated equipment are concerned, British
Standards come within the Aerospace G 100 and G200 series; they give definitions,
constructional requirements, dimensions, calibration data, accuracy required
under varying environmental conditions, and methods of testing. Also in connection
with instruments and associated electronic equipment, frequent reference is made
to what are termed ARINC specifications. This is an acronym for Aeronautical Radio
Incorporated, an organization in the United States which operates under the aegis of
the airline operators, and in close collaboration with manufacturers. One notable
specification of the many which ARINC formulate is that which sets out a standard
set of form factors for the items colloquially termed 'black boxes'. In the main, these
factors cover case dimensions, mounting racks, location of plugs and sockets, and a
system of indexing fouling pins to ensure that only the correct equipment can be fitted
in its appropriate rack position. The size of box is based on a standard width dimension
called 'one ATR' (yet another abbreviation meaning Air Transport Rack) and variations
in simple multiples of this provide a range of case widths.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

V. Enrichment/ In-text activity

I. Lecture Activity: Instructions: Write your full name, the subject, your course, year, the
date of submission of the activity, the activity number or the assignment number and the
module topic it follows.

Name: C/Y/S: Date of Submission

Act No./Assign No.: Module No.

Content

Subject code/name: Page No.

A. Give at 5 sentences of explanation why is the Location, Visibility and Grouping of

Instruments are so important, that is possibly stated on this module.
B. Attach at least 5 pictures of an old instrument panel of an aircraft. Label it with
the name of the aircraft.

II. Laboratory Activity: Instructions: With the materials available on your area, make a
video how important standardization on aircraft instruments. Minimum of 5-minute
video. Submission is within the week.

ONLINE QUIZ no. 1 : Will be given on every second meeting of the week through google
meet and other assessment applications.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

References:
• Pilot's Handbook in Aeronautical Knowledge
• Avionics Fundamentals by Jeppesen
• Aviation Maintenance Technician Handbook Airframe Volume 2, FAA-H 8083-
31(2012)

Recitation:
Instructions: Review the whole module, each student will be given at least 3 questions
from the module. In order to pass, the student should answer two correct questions.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

Rubrics
Criteria Inadequate Adequate Above Exemplary Score
65%-74% 75%-84% Average 93%-100%
85%-92%
Information Information Accurate Accurate Accurate
Gathering taken from information information information
only one taken from a taken from a taken from
source couple of couple of several
and/or sources but sources in a sources in a
information not systematic systematic
not accurate. systematically. manner. manner.
Materials- Inappropriate Appropriate Appropriate Appropriate
construction materials materials materials materials
were were selected. were were
selected and selected and selected and
contributed there was an creatively
to a product attempt at modified in
that creative ways that
performed modification made them
poorly. to make even better.
them even
better.
Completion Several of All but two of All but one All
the problems the problems of the problems
are not are completed. problems are
completed. are completed.
completed.
Strategy/Procedures Rarely uses Sometimes Typically, Typically,
an effective uses an uses an uses an
strategy to effective effective efficient and
solve strategy to strategy to effective
problems. solve solve the strategy to
problems, but problem(s).. solve the
does not do it problem(s).
consistently.
Grade:

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

Honesty Clause
This honesty clause establishes a fundamental social contract within which
the College community agrees to live. This contract relies on the conviction
that the personal and academic integrity of each individual member
strengthens and improves the quality of life for the entire community. It
recognizes the importance of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and
responsibility and wishes these principles to be a defining part of Philippine
State College of Aeronautics
The Institute of Engineering and Technology values and fosters an
environment of academic and personal integrity, supporting the ethical
standards of the engineering profession, where we design and build for the
benefit and safety of society and our environment.
I agree that the submission of any academic work shall constitute a
representation on my part both that such work has been done, and its
submission is being made, in compliance with honesty and integrity.
Furthermore, my responsibility includes taking action when I have
witnessed or am aware of another’s act of academic dishonesty.

Students Name and Signature

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