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.

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Does the Attitude Indicator Face Card Move?

I'm trying to better understand how the rigidity in space principle works in relation to the attitude indicator. My understanding is a gyroscope is a spinning disc that is able to maintain orientation ...
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What is meant by a Gimbal Lock and what are the limits of a Heading Indicator and Attitude Indicator? [duplicate]

When we perform a spin in a Cessna 172, I have seen that the Attitude Indicator gets messed up and locks itself into a disoriented reading for sometime. I have read that this usually happens when ...
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Is the attitude gyro (artificial horizon) equipment on our DA40NG aircraft powered by electricity?

Is the attitude gyro (artificial horizon) equipment on our DA40NG aircraft powered by electricity? While reading the flight manual of the plane, I saw an article about the emergency switch: "by ...
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Pitching up with constant bank -- how to compute final attitude, from initial attitude and degrees of rotation about pitch axis? (Specific example)

(Note: highly related, but different: How to compute final aircraft attitude, if we know starting attitude and degrees of rotation around each axis? (Specific example)) I'm flying due north (000 ...
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How to compute final aircraft attitude, if we know starting attitude and degrees of rotation around each axis? (Specific example)

I'm flying due north (000 degrees heading), with bank angle of 0 degrees and a pitch attitude of 0 degrees. I roll the airplane 30 degrees to the right, rotating only around the aircraft's roll axis (...
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Where can a digital reading of the pitch/attitude of a plane be found?

Where can a digital reading of the pitch of plane be found? E.g on Microsoft flight simulator, on the attitude dial, the pitch of the plane (e.g 10 degrees up above horizon) has to be manually read ...
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Why wouldn't the angle markings on an attitude indicator match the horizon line?

This is a video of some guys messing around in a 737 simulator. Starting at about 1:13, when they have the plane in a pretty deep stall, the attitude indicator degree markings no longer line up with ...
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What do ENR,TERM and APR mean in the HSI? Also how may I call this part on the HSI?

How should I answer when my instructor asks me what it means during the flight? I searched but couldn't find a definitive answer.
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Why did the pilots in Top Gun: Maverick invert at the crest of the mountain before descending?

In Top Gun: Maverick, the pilots plan to perform a bombing run in the valley of a craterous mountain range in F/A-18s. At the crest of the first side of the crater, the pilots were instructed to roll ...
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How do missiles navigate and determine their orientation without GPS?

When a missile is engaged in a GPS free tracking loop how is its internal orientation estimated with respect to ground? I'm assuming this orientation is needed because the force of gravity will be ...
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Anybody recognise the model of ADI on the XB-70?

Is this a model that was used on other aircrafts of the era, too? Looking for technical information about it and knowing the manufacturer and model number would make that easier. The Interim Flight ...
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Were the original gyroscopic artificial horizons "upside-down"?

Looking at an article in Flight magazine from March 1945 titled "Sperry Attitude Gyro" that you can find online, the picture of the instrument is interesting: It seems that the orientation ...
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What is the flight attitude of a Partenavia/Vulcanair P68?

Planning to fit a camera into a Partenavia P68 for vertical (nadir) imagery, and would like to know the difference between ground and 'normal' flight attitude within 2-3°. I'm a pilot, and familiar ...
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Best way to correct for plane's natural tendency to turn left?

I am a new private pilot in training. I've only had about two hours of flight lessons so far, so I'm still quite new to this. In a single engine, PA-28-181 Archer, I found that the plane has a natural ...
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Does the FAA's restriction on adjustment of attitude indicators (14 CFR 23.1303(f)) still apply to aircraft today?

The GA planes I fly (with a club) have Garmin G5 PFDs. On these, the horizon/attitude indicator shows a few degrees pitch-up when in level flight. They're adjusted to indicate level on the ground ...
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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 ...
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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/...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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
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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 ...
Devin Gilbert's user avatar
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4 answers
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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?
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"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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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; ...
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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
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Does the altitude or attitude of an aircraft affect GPS accuracy?

Of course we are assuming an effective signal is being received. I live near Idaho Falls, Idaho with a field elev of 5300ft. If I shoot an approach will GPS be more or less accurate then landing at ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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/...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
Nicolas Holthaus's user avatar
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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 ...
Tony's user avatar
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
Krishnaraj Rao's user avatar
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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?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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