Attitude Indicator

Click on the attitude indicator to watch the movie.

Sometimes called the "artificial horizon," the attitude indicator is the only instrument that simultaneously displays both pitch and bank information.

How It Works

The gyro mounted in the attitude indicator rotates in the horizontal plane and maintains its orientation relative to the real horizon as the airplane banks, climbs, and descends.

Note, however, that the attitude indicator alone can't tell you whether the airplane is maintaining level flight, climbing, or descending. It simply shows the aircraft's attitude relative to the horizon. To determine your flight path, you must crosscheck the airspeed indicator, altimeter, heading indicator, and other instruments.

The pointer at the top of the attitude indicator moves along a scale with marks at 10, 20, 30, 60, and 90 degrees of bank. The horizontal lines show the aircraft's pitch attitude in degrees above or below the horizon. The converging white lines in the bottom section of the indicator can also help you establish specific bank angles.

Limitations

The gyros in the attitude indicators used in most small aircraft tumble if the pitch attitude exceeds +/-70 degrees or if the angle of bank exceeds 100 degrees. When the gyro tumbles, it gives unreliable indications until it realigns itself, a process that usually requires several minutes of straight and level flight. Aerobatic and large aircraft are often equipped with gyros that are reliable through 360 degrees of pitch and bank.

Many modern attitude indicators have a blue "sky" and brown "earth," which is the origin of the phrase "keep the blue side up."