Remove Airplanes Remove Cockpit Remove Pitot Tube
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Examining over 100 years of flight automation and the history of the autopilot

Aerotime

Nowadays, modern aircraft are equipped with systems that can not only fly the aircraft but can also perform fully automated take-offs and landings and can even provide protection systems in the event of unusual flight situations that threaten the safety of the airplane and its occupants.

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The Pitot-Static System: How It Works

Pilot Institute

” The answers come from a clever little setup on your airplane: a metal tube sticking into the airstream and a tiny hole on the fuselage. These two simple features power three of the most important cockpit instruments. This setup is called the pitot-static system. That’s called a pitot tube.

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Fly the Airplane

Plane and Pilot

Suddenly, one of the Airbus three redundant pitot tubes clogged with ice crystals. While some wreckage was recovered within days, it took nearly two years to retrieve the flight and cockpit voice recorders from the ocean floor. Its a common risk for the working CFI. How far do I let the student go before I intervene?

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Pilotless: This Is Your Robot Speaking

Flying Magazine

2 engine had destroyed all three of the airplane’s hydraulic systems, disabling its flight controls. A deadheading pilot named Dennis Fitch came up to the cockpit to help. Kneeling on the floor, he controlled the airplane by manipulating the thurst of the two remaining engines. Someday, the robot airplane will surprise no one.

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Mach Number Explained: What It Is and Why Pilots Use It

Pilot Institute

That’s the speed your airspeed indicator shows based on ram air pressure in the pitot tube. Monitoring Mach Number in the Cockpit Since IAS fails to accurately estimate speed at high altitudes, pilots switch to the Mach scale to manage their speed once they’re in a high-altitude cruise.

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Airspeed and Altitude Control Simplified: Tips for Stable Flying

Pilot Institute

Combining the data shown on your cockpit instruments helps you make better judgments. One example is Indicated Airspeed (IAS), which is the airspeed you read directly from cockpit instruments. It works by reading the difference between static pressure and total pressure from air flowing into a pitot tube.

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Challenger 300 Fatal Upset Wasn’t Turbulence

Fear of Landing

However, when the operator received the aircraft from the seller, there were no streamers attached to the pitot covers and the operator did not purchase new streamers. View of the right side forward area of the airplane showing the covered pitot probe. This had obviously caused the issue during the take-off run.