[Flightgear-devel] ADI Mechanization

[John Wojnaroski]

Hi,   FWIW:   while I've been working mostly with the glass displays, now and then I'll bring up the "steam gauges" panel. I finally see why the artifical horizon looked funny to me. All the ADI's that I'm aware of have the bank index marks fixed relative to the panel or instrument frame which is bolted to the airframe. And the bank pointer (the small triangle) remains perpendicular to the horizon and always points to the sky.   The panel implemented in FG has the index marks rotating and the bank pointer perpendicular to the aircraft symbol. I'll admit it's been a while since I've stuck my head inside a 172, but, baring a trip to the local airport, most of the pics I've seen seem to show the configuration outlined in the first paragraph as well as the old Lear-Siegler MM-3 sitting on my desk.   One of the clues taught in instrument flying for recovering from unusual attitudes is to use the bank pointer (sky pointer) to determine the shortest distance to roll the wings level if you find yourself inverted either nose down or nose up.   Regards John W.