Aerospace Engineering: Aircraft Systems and Avionics

Identify core flight instruments that show aircraft orientation and speed, including the airspeed indicator, altitude indicator, altimeter, turn, heading, and vertical speed indicators; distinguish gyroscopic from pitot-static instruments.

Explore how aircraft instruments use static and dynamic pressure, explain pitot tubes, and show how velocity affects total pressure to measure airspeed.

Explore how pitot tubes and static ports provide dynamic and static pressure for airspeed indicators, altimeters, and vertical speed indicators. Learn how alternate static sources and calibration affect instrument readings.

Describe how a gyroscope's rotor and the gyroscopic effect reveal aircraft rotation and attitude, with vacuum, pressure, or electrical power and redundancy to ensure reliable indicators.

Describe the operation of gyroscopic instruments, including the attitude indicator, heading indicator, and turn indicator, and explain how gyroscopes, gimbals, and vacuum pumps drive instrument displays and two-minute turn lines.

Explore the basics of the aircraft electrical system, a lightweight, reliable network that generates, transmits, distributes, utilizes and stores energy with two engine-driven generators, AC buses, and batteries.

Explore how integrated drive generators convert engine rotation into a constant 400 Hz, 115-volt three-phase power for aircraft, using a constant speed drive.

Explore auxiliary power units and ram air turbines as additional aircraft power sources beyond engine generators, detailing how the apu supplies electrical power and bleed air.

Transformers transfer energy between circuits and adjust voltage via turns ratios, while three-phase rectifier circuits with diodes and capacitors convert AC to DC for aircraft systems.

Explore aircraft power distribution across ac and dc buses, including essential, emergency, and hot buses, and how generators, apu, and batteries feed subsystems with shielding and conductor choices.

Discover how the aircraft pneumatic system delivers high-pressure bleed air from engines and the APU, through valves, precoolers, and cross-bleed valves, to subsystems.

Explore how aircraft pneumatic systems derive high-pressure air from engines, APU, or ground sources to power cabin air conditioning, wing anti-icing, water pressurization, hydraulic pressurization, and engine start.

Explore how hydraulic systems use pressurized fluid to transmit force, control valves, and actuators to move aircraft components like flaps and landing gear, guided by Pascal's principle.

Describe how a hydraulic system uses a reservoir, pump, and valve to power actuators like landing gear and flaps, with filters to remove contaminants and prevent cavitation.

Explore avionics as the fusion of aviation and electronics, covering cockpit instruments, navigation, weather radar, communications, and flight control systems for safe, operable aircraft.

Explore the cockpit as the pilot interface to all controls and subsystems, from control surfaces to the hydraulic system, and compare analog and glass cockpits across civil and military aviation.

Explore the commercial cockpit layout and the primary flight display showing the six flight instruments, plus the central pedestal, side consoles, and overhead panels.

Explore the complete aircraft series bundle, including the three main courses plus nine free courses, a professional certificate, 3D models, and interactive exercises, with lifelong access and a money-back guarantee.