Questions tagged [attitude]
Attitude is the orientation of an aircraft during flight. Normal attitude of an aircraft is wings-level, neutral pitch, and nose pointed in the direction of flight.
37
questions
76
votes
6answers
29k views
Why does the B-52 take off without rotating?
In the answer to this question it is noted that the B-52 takes off without rotating and climbs out in a nose-down attitude. Why was it designed this way?
34
votes
6answers
26k views
How can pilots fly inside a cloud?
I heard that sometime an aircraft fly inside a cloud, and I'm wondering how that works - how clearly can the pilot see while inside the cloud?
What if a cloud is "too large"? (Is there a maximum size ...
32
votes
6answers
15k views
Why do airliners pitch up during cruise?
In my experience as a passenger, when the plane stands at the airport and you enter it, the aisle is pretty much horizontal. (Obviously, I've never flown on a DC-3). After takeoff we pitch sharply ...
asked Mar 25 '14 at 21:07
hmakholm left over Monica
6,4404 gold badges21 silver badges43 bronze badges
31
votes
4answers
6k views
Is it normal for gliders not to have attitude indicators?
This answer shows a picture of and describes a "modern" glider instrument panel, with two variometers, airspeed indicator, altimeter, compass, temperature gauge and radio controls.
Notably (at least ...
30
votes
1answer
5k views
Can we replace an attitude indicator with a ball half full of liquid?
Attitude indicators (artificial horizons) use a gyro to display pitch and bank.
I was wondering if it would work to use a ball half full of liquid to replace the artificial horizon (using the water ...
27
votes
2answers
5k views
Why are the colors of the MiG-15's attitude indicator inverted?
Why are the colors of the MiG-15's attitude indicator inverted (blue on the ground side, brown on the sky side)?
Source: http://www.warbirdalley.com/mig17.htm
16
votes
7answers
12k views
How is a confusion possible between Western and Russian Attitude Indicators?
Yesterday I watched a documentary on Crossair Flight 498 accident. One of the factors that might have contributed to the accident was the confusion of the pilot on interpreting the attitude indicator; ...
14
votes
3answers
11k views
How are attitude indicators kept accurate?
The attitude indicator is very important for any sort of instrument flying, so it must be accurate at all times regardless of the plane's movements.
I presume that the indicator would be connnected ...
12
votes
4answers
2k views
Can a small GA plane maintain level flight with a significant nose-down attitude?
Consider a small, one- or two-seater motor GA aircraft, something like a Cessna 152 or similar, designed for level flight at roughly neutral pitch.
It's certainly possible to fly such an aircraft in ...
12
votes
1answer
24k views
What is the exact meaning of “attitude”, does it include translational movement?
Reading documentation it is clear to me that "attitude" means the study of orientation of a body. However sometimes it seems to be used loosely for the motion tracking of a body (both translational ...
12
votes
4answers
7k views
What is the immediate cause of liftoff?
If I understand correctly, when a plane transitions from takeoff roll to being airborne, it is not something that happens "by itself" when the airspeed is high enough, but is caused by deliberate ...
asked Mar 26 '14 at 22:59
hmakholm left over Monica
6,4404 gold badges21 silver badges43 bronze badges
11
votes
3answers
2k views
Is there a name for change in attitude with respect to time?
I'm in the process of writing a flight-dynamics software program, but I'm not sure what to call the derivatives of the aircraft attitude. If it was in one dimension, they would be the "angular ...
8
votes
3answers
2k views
Is it possible to tilt a propeller for attitude control, similarly to jet thrust vectoring?
Are there examples of propellers tilted in a controlled way to help in attitude control for pitch and yaw, adding a torque component?
Tilted propeller assumption
This would be similar to thrust ...
7
votes
4answers
4k views
What's the meaning of “straight and level”?
Indeed a very strange question.
My understanding of straight and level is: The aircraft is flying at a constant heading and constant altitude, and maybe at a constant speed, and this has nothing to ...
7
votes
1answer
674 views
Why was pitch angle protection not active in the CRJ 200 during the crash of Sweden Air 294?
I have read about the CRJ 200 Sweden Air 294 crash. I understood that the main cause of the accident was faulty IRU and wrong declutter PFD design. The human error also lead the aircraft into a ...
7
votes
3answers
905 views
What is the best word for lateral translational movement in a rotorcraft?
I'm talking about movement left and right without changing attitude. This is a motion that can be done with a quadcopter and to a limited extent a helicopter (I presume).
On a helicopter a left/...
6
votes
1answer
12k views
What is the relation between roll angle and pitch angle?
I was wondering about roll angle and pitch angle values.
Will I get same pitch angle at different roll angles and vice-versa?
For example. At its initial position, the aircraft is standing on the ...
6
votes
1answer
326 views
How can I estimate Roll from Position?
I have flight test data where the IMU is junk. The roll and yaw are obviously wrong, while the pitch seems to be correct. [I know the yaw is wrong because it doesn't match the changes in headings, and ...
5
votes
1answer
716 views
Does the nose-up attitude of a jet make it more difficult to land than a turboprop?
Due to the more acute nose down attitude of a turboprop on approach, does this make it less difficult to control compared to the relatively high nose up attitude of a jet?
5
votes
2answers
4k views
What is the difference between IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference System)?
According to online sources like wikipedia the difference belies on the addition of an on-board processing system (I assume it means a microcontroller) which outputs already processed data and not ...
5
votes
2answers
119 views
Do mechanical attitude indicators have rotation limits?
Do mechanical attitude indicators have limits to the rotations they can display?
Wondering since gyros suffer from gimbal lock when two axes become aligned (e.g., at 90 deg pitch, if you were doing ...
4
votes
1answer
3k views
What are the advantages and disadvantages of level flight with a nose-down attitude? [duplicate]
This is a questions about fixed-wing aircraft in general -- commercial planes and smaller. I have seen on a video that planes are capable of flying in a holding pattern with an nose-down attitude "for ...
4
votes
2answers
3k views
What is the direction convention for Roll angle?
This page from Wikipedia says:
A positive rolling motion lifts the left wing and lowers the right wing.
Which means that if an aircraft has a roll of +20 degrees, it would bank towards the right. ...
4
votes
1answer
877 views
How does the attitude and heading reference (AHRS) work on Boeing 737 aircraft?
I would like to know how the AHRS work on Boeing 737 aircraft. If this aircraft (like every the other ones I guess) has an Inertial Reference System (IRS), composed of 3 accelerometers and 3 ...
3
votes
1answer
126 views
Is it possible for an indirect (Russian) attitude indicator to work in 3D without tumbling?
For a reference of direct and indirect attitude indicator, see How is a confusion possible between Western and Russian Attitude Indicators?, and https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/...
2
votes
5answers
1k views
Would mechanical indicators have helped in the Air France 447 incident?
NB I am not an aviation professional.
I saw a documentary about the terrible Air France 447 disaster the other day.
I was struck, as were the experts in it, including David Learmount, who's known as ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views
Where can I download flight data containing pitch, roll and yaw angles?
I'm researching the amount of solar energy available to photovoltaic cells placed at various locations on an aircraft's body. To calculate the angle of incidence of the sunlight on different parts of ...
1
vote
4answers
690 views
What is the difference between turn rate and yaw rate in aircraft?
Attitude heading computers generate both a turn rate and a yaw rate. How are these different from each other? Is Euler yaw rate the same as turn rate?
1
vote
1answer
3k views
What are Altitude, Attitude and Heading Hold?
Can someone give a good and simple explanation about these three dynamics?
Altitude Hold
Attitude Hold
Heading Hold
1
vote
1answer
482 views
What principle does the attitude indicator in the G1000 use?
The heading indicator in the G1000 uses a magnetometor, but how can the attitude indicator work in the G1000?
Does it work with a tilt sensor, rate sensor or accelerometer?
1
vote
1answer
103 views
Why do most commercial solid-state Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) measure angular rate and not angular acceleration?
The vast majority of MEMS-based IMUs are formed by an accelerometer and a gyroscope, providing linear acceleration and angular rate measurements respectively.
However, having available the angular ...
1
vote
3answers
131 views
Does it make sense to say an aircraft has an attitude of 3° or that it has a flight position of 3°?
I am trying to translate an aircraft manual, and there is a diagram showing what the HUD would look like given a "posición de vuelo de 3°".
The diagram is captioned in Spanish as "vuelo horizontal a ...
1
vote
3answers
547 views
How Helicopters Change Attitude (Gyroscopic Precession or Thrust Vector Tilt)
I am trying to determine how helicopters pitch and roll (i.e. change attitude). I have heard two explanations.
1) Pitch/roll change is achieved by tilting the tip path plane and therefor tilting the ...
0
votes
3answers
135 views
Normal tendency of helicopter with counter clockwise rotating main rotors (top view) with force trim off and leaving controls?
Is it normal for the helicopter with CCW rotating main rotors to pitch down and roll left in forward flight, when force trim is turned off and hands off the cyclic?
Moreover, when we put the ...
0
votes
1answer
176 views
what are the Common roll angle and roll rate limits for civil flights?
I'm currently doing simulations for eVTOL type of vehicles and for the purpose of controlling the attitude, I'd like to know the common limits for roll and roll rates (more important) that are in ...
0
votes
0answers
78 views
“Snowglobe”-type attitude indicator [duplicate]
I'm an aviation enthusiast (I do not, nor have I ever worked in the industry), and after researching several various emergencies (reading text documents, reviewing CVR transcripts and watching ...
0
votes
0answers
53 views
How does a standby ADI remain accurate when flying over the curved earth? [duplicate]
How does a standby attitude directional indicator remain accurate when flying for many hours over the curve of the earth? While maintaining level flight, wouldn’t the pilot see an apparent movement of ...
