I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

General Chit Chat
Post Reply
Message
Author
John Hill
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5696
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:40 pm
Location: Aotearoa

I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#1 Post by John Hill » Thu May 12, 2022 9:38 pm

We all know what a Link Trainer is (was?) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_Trainer

The Link is a closed cockpit pilot trainer consisting of a simulation of a single seat aircraft mounted on a stand with movements in yaw, roll and pitch. The student is under a hood and must guide his aircraft according to instruments and seat-of-pants.

We have one in our museum which is somewhat sacrosanct but we might make another for visitors to the museum to have a go in.

Making the plywood 'plane is no challenge and the mechanical movements should be easy enough.

Our project will require a closed loop system.... pilot inputs-aircraft movement-instrument indications-pilot input. So, stick forward, 'craft pitches forward, speed indication increases, control sensitivity changes accordingly, instruments do their thing, RPMs indicate, noise changes...... and so on.

Most of that is software (we we can manage) but tracking the attitude of the 'craft could be a pain involving all manner of electro mechanical do-dads and tangles of wires.

Now the gutz of the issue is how to practically sense 'craft attitude and model air aircraft gyros come to mind. Comments regards the gyro systems available would be appreciated. :wave:
Been in data comm since we formed the bits individually with a Morse key.

Hydromet
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 4303
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:55 am
Location: SE Oz
Gender:

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#2 Post by Hydromet » Thu May 12, 2022 10:44 pm

I can't help you with information, but thanks for the link.

Hat, coat, parachute.

k3k3
Capt
Capt
Posts: 1492
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:44 pm
Location: In the Transit Lounge

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#3 Post by k3k3 » Fri May 13, 2022 7:44 am

If you could find a Standby Attitude Indicator they are normally self-contained with the gyro within the instrument, all they need is a 28VDC supply and Bob's your uncle.

I've just seen that some small GA aircraft have vacuum driven gyros, but I don't know about them.

Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17210
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#4 Post by Boac » Fri May 13, 2022 7:48 am

I think we would all miss the puffing and panting bellows :))

John Hill
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5696
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:40 pm
Location: Aotearoa

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#5 Post by John Hill » Fri May 13, 2022 7:28 pm

k3k3 wrote:
Fri May 13, 2022 7:44 am
If you could find a Standby Attitude Indicator they are normally self-contained with the gyro within the instrument, all they need is a 28VDC supply and Bob's your uncle.

I've just seen that some small GA aircraft have vacuum driven gyros, but I don't know about them.

Good point about the standby AI and we probably have something like that in the collection!
Been in data comm since we formed the bits individually with a Morse key.

John Hill
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5696
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:40 pm
Location: Aotearoa

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#6 Post by John Hill » Fri May 13, 2022 7:29 pm

Boac wrote:
Fri May 13, 2022 7:48 am
I think we would all miss the puffing and panting bellows :))
I expect there would be a riot if there are no bellows..
Been in data comm since we formed the bits individually with a Morse key.

User avatar
Fox3WheresMyBanana
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 12987
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:51 pm
Location: Great White North
Gender:
Age: 61

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#7 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Mon May 23, 2022 9:34 pm

I suggest you connect a gyro chip (stuck to the floor or somewhere else convenient) to a simple microprocessor (like an arduino) and use that to feed the necessary data to your computer.
It's easy to write Kalman Filtering software for an arduino to smooth the signal (I've done it), but you can probably download it from Github or similar now.
Some chinese accelerometers can feed direct to Windows, but I don't know how good they are.

John Hill
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5696
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:40 pm
Location: Aotearoa

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#8 Post by John Hill » Mon May 23, 2022 9:57 pm

Thanks Fox3. However there has been a change of project plan and we will now be using steppers for moving the blue box aircraft and when we do that of course the computer 'knows' the 'aircraft attitude. That of course is only this week's plan and we may be back to a gyro chip if hydraulics become feasible.

John
Been in data comm since we formed the bits individually with a Morse key.

ricardian
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5947
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:08 pm
Location: 59°09N 002°38W
Gender:
Age: 80

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#9 Post by ricardian » Wed May 25, 2022 8:53 pm

This photograph was posted to an RAF forum just now, very little information is available. Can anyone assist?
Ricardian, Stronsay, Orkney UK
www.stronsaylimpet.co.uk
visitstronsay.com
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/EGER

John Hill
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5696
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:40 pm
Location: Aotearoa

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#10 Post by John Hill » Wed May 25, 2022 9:37 pm

I wish I had a bob for every Munro instrument I have ever put my sticky finger prints on but I have never seen one of those.
Been in data comm since we formed the bits individually with a Morse key.

k3k3
Capt
Capt
Posts: 1492
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:44 pm
Location: In the Transit Lounge

Re: I need to know stuff about aircraft and gyros etc!!

#11 Post by k3k3 » Thu May 26, 2022 11:35 am

Pitot-Static test set calibrator?

Post Reply