Design of Flight Instruments

Flight Instrument Design

Introduction to Flight Instruments

• Cockpit instruments and displays provide aircraft’s vital parameters
• Parameters could be air speed, altitude, position or attitude
• Displays range from simple dials to liquid crystal displays (LCD) screens
• Design of displays is a compromise between measuring range and accuracy
• A linear scale is preferred in certain instruments like Air Speed Indicator
• A non-linear scale is preferred in instruments like Vertical Speed Indicator

Ergonomics in Cockpit Layout

• Ergonomics also called human engineering is vital to a well designed layout
• The layout should be easy to scan through and understand
• For example, the ‘ T ’ layout comprises of some of the basic instruments
• Displays could be analogue, digital or hybrid dials
• Eye reference point is an important consideration to avoid parallax errors

Electronic Displays in Cockpit

• Vintage aircrafts had simple and light instruments in the cockpit
• Modern aircrafts have complex and heavy instruments in remote locations
• Avionics bay or electrics and electronics (E&E) bay hold electronic instruments
• An aircraft with fully electronic displays in flight deck is called a Glass Cockpit

Colour Coding in Flight Instruments

• Standard colour coding is used in most of the aircraft for easy identification
• Green – Normal range
• Yellow or Amber – Cautionary range
• Red – Warning or Unsafe range
• Blue – Temporary situation
• White – Present status

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