Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

Bank indicator

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web

Pink Panther

Active member
Joined
Dec 2, 2001
Posts
35
Hello,

Could someone tell me where the turn & bank indicator are located in a modern glass cockpit?

Thanks and have a safe flight!

Reinier
 
Since jet's don't generally make standard rate turns, a traditional turn and bank indicator is unnecessary. (Making a two-minute three-sixty in a 747, for example, would require a bank angle and G-loading that would impress the heck out of you!)

On the CRJ-200 the inclinometer (or "ball"*) is incorporated into the sky pointer in the artificial horizon portion of the EADI. There's another one in the base of the standby horizon in the middle of the instrument panel.



*On our electronic displays, the "ball" is actually a rectangle that sits flush with the base of the sky pointer when in coordinated flight. Ergo, it's called the "brick."
 
Aren't jets typically 1/2 standard rate turns?
 
Thanks,

But if jet's don't make standard rate turns, what kind of turns do they make, and how can a pilot see whether he is flying a coordinated turn?

Furthermore, if the inclinometer is incorporated in the sky pointer, how can you see whether you are flying a coordinated turn?

best wishes,
 
Pink Panther said:
...if jet's don't make standard rate turns, what kind of turns do they make...?
In most large jetliners, turns are limited to thirty degrees of bank. That's about as far as you can go without making the passengers uncomfortable and unnecessarily stressing the airframe. The flight director/autopilot limits itself to twenty-five degrees, and can be reduced to 12.5 degrees.

Remember, the bank angle required to make a standard-rate turn increases with airspeed.* If you're in a Cherokee at 80 knots, it's a nice comfortable bank angle. Now imagine a Tri-Star at 480 knots...!
...how can a pilot see whether he is flying a coordinated turn?
The "brick" works exactly like the "ball" in your turn coordinator or turn-and-bank indicator. Assuming you're not inverted, it's easily in your scan. In fact, having it incorporated into the sky pointer makes your scan a lot easier...your eyes only have to travel a fraction of a degree to rapidly scan the bank angle and the "brick."



*Does anybody remember that formula?
 
Last edited:
While there is an indication of quality of turn, it's typically a nice-to-know function (and has bearing only during an assymetrcal thrust situation, such as an engine shutdown). Normal flight in most turbojets consists of keeping the feet on the floor, or letting them sleep on the rudder pedals. The rudder is seldom touched, except for taxi in aircraft not using a tiller.

"Coordination" is nearly, or completely, automatic. Additionally, adverse yaw in most turbojet airplanes is nearly nonexistant with respect to required pilot input. This means that the pilot doesn't have much need of rudder use in normal operations, and consequently not much need to look at instrumentation to "coordinate" anything.
 
I think you are talking about the formula for a standard rate turn at different airspeeds, and it is just 15% of your airspeed. So in a Cherokee doing 100 knots, it is 15 degrees of bank. In a larger airplane doing 300 knots, it is 45 degrees of bank.
 
Rate of Turn formulas

Here are a couple to use.
----------------------------------------
To calculate ROT for a given bank angle:

ROT = (1091 x tangent of bank angle) / TAS

Example: 25 degree bank angle & 450 KTAS:

ROT = (1091 x 0.466) / 450 = 1.1 deg per sec
-------------------------------------------
To calculate angle of bank for a given turn rate:

bank angle = arctan [(TAS x deg per sec) / 1091)]

Example: bank angle required to turn 3 deg per sec @ 450 KTAS:

bank angle = arctan [(450 x 3) / 1091)] = 51 degrees.
-----------------------------------------------------
You can see why high speed aircraft turn much less than standard rate.

The various rules-of-thumb for SRT bank angles (i.e., "10% of airspeed, plus 7," etc.) are only accurate in a small speed range, because the equations are non-linear due to the trigonometric functions involved.

The best reference I know on this subject is *Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators* (really, it's not *just* for NA's).
 
Re: Rate of Turn formulas

onthebeach said:
The best reference I know on this subject is Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators.
It's been gathering dust since I got hired. :D

(Maybe I need to dig that thing out...)
 
Turn & SLIP

Pink Panther said:
Could someone tell me where the turn & bank indicator are located in a modern glass cockpit?
I do believe it's actually referred to as a Turn and SLIP Indicator. ;) One portion indicates the angle of bank. The other portion indicates the amount of sideslip (or skid) being induced, or, in other words, how COORDINATED the turn is. (Neither portion directly dispays RATE of turn.)

The Honeywell "glass" on the MD-11/10 incorporates a slip indicator into the "Sky pointer" which obviously displays the bank angle. While it appears at first glance to be a simple triangle pointing to the angle of bank (straight up for level flight), it is in fact a triangle sitting atop a trapezoid. When the turn is uncoordinated, the trapezoid displaces laterally from the triangle in much the same way a ball would displace in the fluid-filled tube on conventional instruments. ("Step on the ball" is replaced by "step on the trapezoid.") :) :)
 

Latest resources

Back
Top