Reading your flight instruments

Reading your flight instruments

A second, aircraft-neutral practice session: find the six flight readings on your own panel, read four of them in steady flight, try one beginner instrument cross-check, and watch how attitude, vertical speed, altitude and airspeed respond to one small pitch change. It teaches reading and cross-checking only, describes no aircraft procedures, and compares airspeed with groundspeed only where your panel displays both.

Simulator practice. This exercise covers generic simulator skills and contains no aircraft procedures. It does not replace formal instruction or approved aircraft manuals.

Progress and notes are saved in this browser only. There is no account and nothing is uploaded, so clearing your browser data clears them.

1. Prepare your session

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   • Start a calm session you can read a panel inUse the simulator session setup checklist on this site if you have not set up before. Then start a situation where you will soon be able to fly straight and level in calm conditions: on the ground ready for a flight you already know how to fly, or already paused in any steady in-flight situation your simulator offers. This exercise teaches reading instruments only, so it assumes no take-off or procedure knowledge of any kind.Done when: A session is running in which you will be able to fly, or pause, a straight and level situation safely.

2. Read your panel

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   • Locate the six flight readingsOn your own panel, find where the aircraft presents each of these: airspeed, attitude (pitch and bank relative to the horizon), altitude, heading, rate of climb or descent, and turn coordination. Some aircraft use traditional round-dial instruments, some use a digital primary flight display, and some use a mix; whatever your panel shows is the right answer for this task. The Academy theory linked on this page explains what each reading means.Done when: For each of the six readings, you can point to where your panel presents it, or you have noted that your panel presents none for it.
   • Note four values aloud in steady flightIn a steady, straight and level situation, read the current values aloud (or write them down) for airspeed, altitude, heading and vertical speed. A rate instrument may sit close to zero in level flight, and that is itself a reading worth noting.Done when: You have a written or spoken note of the airspeed, altitude, heading and vertical speed your panel showed in the steady situation, or a note that your panel presents none for one of them.
   • Try one beginner instrument cross-checkIn your steady situation, make one cross-check loop: look at your attitude, then your altitude, then your airspeed, then your heading, and then back to your attitude, saying or noting each reading as you go. The linked Academy theory explains why this loop is a useful beginner habit. It is a learning habit, not the only valid instrument scan: real scans adapt to the aircraft and the situation. If your panel does not present one of the four readings, note that and include the ones it does present.Done when: You have completed at least one cross-check loop in the order attitude, altitude, airspeed, heading, back to attitude, with a note of the values you read or of any of the four your panel does not present.

3. Compare and notice

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   • Make one small pitch change and watch the order of the readingsIn your steady situation, make one small, deliberate nose-up pitch input and briefly hold the new attitude. Watch which reading changes first, which follows after a short delay, and which warns you earliest that speed is trading away. Then return to level flight and note the same order in reverse. If anything on your panel responds differently from what the Academy theory describes, note it rather than assuming you misread it: simulator products differ, and your note is the useful output of this task.Done when: You observed the order in which attitude, rate, altitude and airspeed responded to your pitch change, and you have a note of anything that surprised you.
   • Compare the panel's story with the view outsideWhile flying straight and level, compare your heading reading with the view outside the window. In wind, the direction the nose points and the direction the aircraft travels over the ground differ, and no instrument is faulty when that happens. Note one thing the panel told you that the view alone could not.Done when: You have a note comparing what the panel showed with what the view outside showed, including one observation the panel alone made clear.
   • Compare airspeed with groundspeed where your panel shows bothIndicated airspeed and groundspeed are different quantities: airspeed tells you how fast the aircraft moves through the air, while groundspeed is how fast it moves over the ground, and in moving air the two differ without any instrument being faulty. If your panel or its navigation display shows a groundspeed, read it next to your airspeed and note both values from the same steady situation. If your panel shows no groundspeed, note that instead, and note that your airspeed reading is not a speed over the ground.Done when: You have a note comparing your airspeed and groundspeed values from the same situation, or a note that your panel displays no groundspeed and of what your airspeed reading does and does not tell you.