Editing Flight instruments (section)

== Layout ==
[[Image:Six flight instruments.JPG|thumb|250px|Six basic instruments in a light twin-engine [[airplane]] arranged in a "basic-T". From top left: [[airspeed indicator]], [[attitude indicator]], [[altimeter]], [[turn coordinator]], [[heading indicator]], and [[vertical speed indicator]]]]
Most aircraft are equipped with a standard set of '''flight instruments''' which give the pilot information about the aircraft's attitude, airspeed, and altitude.

=== T arrangement ===
Most US aircraft built since the 1940s have flight instruments arranged in a standardized pattern called the "T" arrangement.<ref name=Natola>{{Cite book |editor=Mark Natola |title=Boeing B-47 Stratojet |publisher=Schiffer Publishing Ltd. |year=2002 |isbn=0764316702 |page=46}}</ref>  The attitude indicator is in the top center, airspeed to the left, altimeter to the right and heading indicator under the attitude indicator. The other two, turn-coordinator and vertical-speed, are usually found under the airspeed and altimeter, but are given more latitude in placement. The magnetic compass will be above the instrument panel, often on the [[windscreen]] centerpost. In newer aircraft with [[glass cockpit]] instruments the layout of the displays conform to the basic T arrangement.

=== Early history {{anchor|Basic Six}}===
In 1929, [[Jimmy Doolittle]] became the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane using instruments alone, without a view outside the cockpit.  In 1937, the British [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) chose a set of six essential flight instruments<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Williamson |first=G. W. |date=19 August 1937 |title=Instrument Planning: The New Service Blind-Flying Panel Described |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1937/1937%20-%202313.html |magazine=Flight |page=193 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727222059/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1937/1937%20-%202313.html |archive-date=27 July 2014 |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref> which would remain the standard panel used for flying in [[instrument meteorological conditions]] (IMC) for the next 20 years. They were:

* [[altimeter]] (feet)
* [[airspeed indicator]] (knots)
* [[turn and bank indicator]] (turn direction and coordination)
* [[vertical speed indicator]] (feet per minute)
* [[artificial horizon]]  (attitude indication)
* [[directional gyro|directional gyro / heading indicator]] (degrees)

This panel arrangement was incorporated into all RAF aircraft built to [[List of Air Ministry specifications|official specification]] from 1938, such as the [[Miles Master]], [[Hawker Hurricane]], [[Supermarine Spitfire]], and 4-engined [[Avro Lancaster]] and [[Handley Page Halifax]]  heavy bombers, but not the earlier light single-engined [[de Havilland Tiger Moth|Tiger Moth]] trainer, and minimized the type-conversion difficulties associated with blind flying, since a pilot trained on one aircraft could quickly become accustomed to any other if the instruments were identical.

This basic six set, also known as a "six pack",<ref name=6pack>{{cite web|title=Six Pack - The Primary Flight Instruments|date=13 March 2010|url=http://www.learntofly.ca/six-pack-primary-flight-instruments/|publisher=LearnToFly.ca|access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref> was also adopted by commercial aviation. After the [[World War II|Second World War]] the arrangement was changed to: (top row) airspeed, artificial horizon, altimeter, (bottom row) turn and bank indicator, heading indicator, vertical speed.

===Further development===
{{Main|Glass cockpit}}
[[File:PFD.png|thumb|400px|[[Primary flight display|Primary Flight Display (PFD)]]]]
In glass cockpits the flight instruments are shown on monitors. [[Primary flight display]], is given a central place on the panel, superseding the artificial horizon, often, with a [[horizontal situation indicator]] next to it or integrated with the PFD. The indicated airspeed, altimeter, and vertical speed indicator are displayed as moving "tapes" with the indicated airspeed to the left of the horizon and the altimeter and the vertical speed to the right in the same layout as in most older style "clock cockpits".