What are the cockpit instruments inside an helicopter?

Question

How are they different from the instruments in an modern airliner cockpit?

Answer 1

Helicopter pilots and airplane pilots need to know the same basic things to fly and navigate their aircraft. Most of the instruments in helicopters and airplanes are common between them. Both helicopters and airplanes need to know their airspeed, altitude, attitude, (bank angle and pitch angle), rate of turn, rate of climb, vertical speed, direction of heading and so forth. They also need to know what the engine is doing as far as rpm, it's oil temperature and pressure and so on. Fuel flow and quantity are typical gauges in both aircraft.



If they are equipped for instrument flight, they would both need all the instruments and equipment to navigate solely on those instruments and they would be similar or even identical in either the helicopter or plane.



Helicopters also need to show what their rotor is doing in relation to the engine, so an instrument just for that is included that airplanes don't have.



Most helicopters still have analog instruments or gauges in their instrument panels. Most modern military helicopters and the latest commercial helicopters have what is known as a 'glass cockpit'. Most commercial airliners are now equipped with 'glass cockpits', but a few still have the older style round gauges.



A glass cockpit is just flat panel screens that look more like computer monitors than gauges. They display all the information in digital format that the old gauges display. Some of them just mimic how the old instrument looked, but it's just a computer generated instrument on the glass screen. It's generally called EFIS for electronic flight instrument system.



Here's a photo of a small helicopter's instrument panel:



http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/model333/images/img5.jpg



As you can see, it is similar to a light, fixed wing aircraft instrument panel. It has all the same instruments that a light plane would have, but there are other instruments for rotor rpm and torque that a plane doesn't have.



Here's a photo of a modern military helicopter's 'glass' panel:



http://news.cnet.com/i/ne/p/2007/blackhawk-03-550x413.jpg



Here's a shot of a modern airliner instrument panel:



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Boeing_777_Cockpit.jpg



As you can see, there are still analog instruments for backup, but everything can be displayed on any of the screens, however the pilots desire to see it.



You can go to Google Images and search for glass cockpit or aircraft instrument panel to find more photos. Or search for helicopter instrument panel.



If you want a list of the actual instruments in a helicopter, just ask. Someone will give you an answer.

Answer 2

Helicopter Instruments

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

What are the cockpit instruments inside an helicopter?

How are they different from the instruments in an modern airliner cockpit?

Answer 4

I've only ever flown in a Bell 47 with no doors. LOUD does not begin to describe the noise. You have a basically unmuffled piston engine directly behind your seat plus all the drive transmission noise. And then there is the sound of the rotor head and the blades. There are no doors and there is definitely no sound insulation. My pilot was wearing earplugs and a headset at the time. I just had earplugs.

Answer 5

It depends on the type of helicopter. Simple VFR helicopters such as a R-22 may have only a few instruments such as an RPM gauge, Altimeter, speed, and all the bare minimums. More advanced, IFR rated helicopters can and do have very advanced instruments such as those on airlines. Of course, they would differ in many ways, such as power instruments, RPM, torque, rotor speed, and hover indicator. But they can be very similar.