Back to level flight
THE artificial horizon, the instrument that tells pilots how their aircraft is banking, is due for a rethink.
So says cockpit ergonomics researcher Donough Wilson of Coventry University in the UK, who points out that conventional displays can be fatally misread when pilots become disoriented in the murk of thunderstorms, torrential rain or heavy snow. Wilson has developed an alternative display which he presented at last week’s European Air and Space Conference in Manchester, UK.
The introduction of the conventional artificial horizon in 1927 allowed pilots to fly safely in cloud, which had not been possible…
