Airplane Clock

A clock is generally taken to mean a device to show the time of day or night. However, a clocking device may be any instrument that registers a given condition such as the temperature of a place or clocking the revolutions per minute of a machine.

The usual form of a clock is a round gauge, with one or more needle indicators. The idea of a round gage is useful because many people can tell with experience the reading of the gauge just by looking at the positions of the needles on the gauge. A slight glance will do. People still prefer analog speedometer in their cars. The needles of such instruments make a kind of sign during operation, allowing the user to recognize at a glance, from the motion of the needle as well as its angle, if something is wrong with the system being monitored. Especially with experience, the effort required to get an overall picture from an analog gauge is usually less than that needed to interpret and understand a digital readout.

Various Airplane Clocks

An airplane has a number of clocks, if they may be called that. The Vertical Speed Indicator in an airplane shows how fast the aircraft is climbing. The traditional form of this instrument is a round gauge with a single needle. Its zero position in the middle left. When the aircraft is climbing, the needle moves clockwise, above the zero point. In a dive, the needle rotates counterclockwise, below the zero point.

An altimeter gauge shows the aircraft's height above sea level. Multiple needles indicate altitude rather like an analog clock indicates time the typical altimeter greatly resembles a clock at first glance. An altimeter-style gauge is very helpful in displaying a single quantity, which must be monitored at several different scale levels.

A plane annunciator can be used to indicate an emergency or error condition. Flashing lights alarms, voice prompts and various combinations of the three can be used to indicate such events. Annunciators are a very useful source of supplemental information in a user interface.

Perhaps the most important form of a clock in an airplane is the gyro. This constantly clocks the speed and the direction of the aircraft very accurately.

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