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> The artificial horizon is a gyroscopically steadied line, which stays level with the earth's surface. The airplane pitches and banks in relation to this stead
by chime 16y ago
> The artificial horizon is a gyroscopically steadied line, which stays level with the earth's surface. The airplane pitches and banks in relation to this steady line, which in spatial terms never moves. Of course, in airplane terms it does move -- which presents a problem, because pilots are part of the airplane: they fly it from within, strapped to their seats. In clear skies they would never misjudge a bank as the tilting of the earth, but with their view restricted to the abstractions of the instrument panel they sometimes do just that: when the airplane banks, they perceive the motion as a movement of the artificial horizon line across the face of the instrument. This causes them to "fly" the wrong thing -- the moving horizon line, rather than the fixed symbolic airplane. For example, as turbulence tilts the airplane to the left, the pilots, tilting with it, notice the artificial horizon line dropping to the right. Reacting instinctively to the indication of motion, they sometimes try to raise the line as if it were a wing.
Would this be considered an example of a dangerously confusing user interface?
- rubyrescue 16y agoFrom personal experience, during instrument training this is something you get used to and a trained pilot would not normally make such a mistake; the interface is so simple it would be hard to simplify it further, and further, it's not the only instrument you have at your disposal - you get a sense of them working together (turn indicator; airspeed indicator; compass, GPS, and VOR, all are secondary indicators indicating that you're turning in a particular direction or pitching down or up)...
- jrockway 16y agoNot really, the UI works exactly like the thing it models. Bank the plane to the left, the horizon moves to the right. And so does the artificial horizon. I think people get confused when they see the marking representing the planes wings not moving relative to the console, but they see the blue-and-red thing inside the instrument moving. So they assume that their control inputs are causing the artificial horizon to move, when in reality, they are moving the plane and the artificial horizon is remaining still, just like the real horizon would. Presumably there is some sort of mental issue with the "size" of the horizon -- when you look out the window, it's really big, so of course you're not moving it. Newer cockpits make the artificial horizon bigger, perhaps to compensate for this effect: http://www.cockpitgps.com/VOR_magnetic_variation/G1000CBEAV-SWL.JPG http://www.cockpitgps.com/VOR_magnetic_variation/G1000CBEAV-... I know that as long as I remember "fly the little airplane, not the horizon", it's not a problem. And as the comment below mentions, you also have a turn indicator, which clearly shows "R" when you're turning right and "L" when you're turning left: http://www.unitedinst.com/images/TurnSlip9500Series.gif http://www.unitedinst.com/images/TurnSlip9500Series.gif