The Instrument Scan: Control/Performance and Primary/Supporting
Key concepts, instrument groupings, and rules of thumb for building a deliberate instrument scan.
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Questions Covered in This Set
11 cards to master
What are the control instruments?
The attitude indicator (pitch and bank) and the power indicator (tachometer, manifold pressure, or N1/EPR) — they show what you are commanding.
What are the performance instruments?
Airspeed indicator, altimeter, VSI, heading indicator, and turn coordinator — they show what the airplane is doing as a result of your inputs.
What is the four-step operational loop of attitude instrument flying?
Establish → Trim → Cross-check → Adjust. Corrections are always made on the control instruments and verified on the performance instruments.
How do you define the 'primary' instrument for a parameter?
The instrument that gives the most direct, most stable, lag-free indication of the parameter you are trying to hold — the one that reads exactly what you asked for.
Straight-and-level: primary and supporting for pitch?
Primary: altimeter. Supporting: attitude indicator and VSI.
Constant-airspeed climb (established): what is primary for pitch and for power?
Airspeed indicator is primary for pitch; tachometer/manifold pressure is primary for power.
In a level standard-rate turn, what is primary for bank, and why?
The turn coordinator, because heading is intentionally changing so the heading indicator can't be primary.
Pitch and bar-width rules of thumb in a typical light single
1° pitch change ≈ 100 fpm; a half bar width corrects about 20 feet; a full bar width corrects about 100 feet.
Power rule of thumb in a light single
About 100 RPM ≈ 5 knots in level flight, or ≈ 500 fpm at constant airspeed.
What is the hub-and-spoke (radial) scan?
A scan pattern that continually returns to the attitude indicator as the hub, radiating out to one performance instrument at a time and back.
What are the three classic scan errors?
Fixation (staring at one instrument), omission (skipping an instrument), and emphasis (over-relying on one instrument or group).
