Cessna 152 | Flying the Desert
Confused about the Cockpit ?
Here's an
explanation about all the dials, controls and buttons
you see above, in this typical Cessna 152 Control Panel layout.
| Turn Coordinator | 1 | Tells you how far you have turned horizontally. |
| Airspeed Indicator | 2 | Tells you how fast you are flying relative to the air. |
| Suction Gauge | 3 | Indicates the amount of pressure available to power the instruments. |
| Directional Indicator | 4 | Like a compass, this you where you are headed but is much more stable. |
| Attitude Indicator | 5 | A.k.a. Artificial Horizon. This one is handy if you are flying in cloud and you're not sure if the nose of the plane is pointing into the ground or up into the sky. |
| Registration Number | 6 | The name of your plane, to be used when contacting Air Traffic Control. |
| Vertical Speed Indicator | 7 | Tells whether you are climbing or descending, and at what speed. |
| Altimeter | 8 | This tells you your altitude |
| Clock | 9 | This tells the time to the minute, in Greenwich Mean Time. |
| ILS Glide Slope Indicator | 10 | Some planes have this to help them land in cloudy conditions when electronic assistance is required. |
| Transponder | 11 | An electronic identifier that tells the guys on the ground looking at their radar exactly which spot on their screen is you. |
| ADF Radio | 12 | A navigational aid that gives you the angle between your plane, North and a radio station. This box enables you to find the radio station you want. |
| Marker Beacon | 13 | Used to tell people landing in cloudy conditions that they are approaching the runway. |
| Radio | 14 | This box controls who you talk to when speaking in the microphone. |
| Audio Control Panel | 15 | This box controls outward messages on the microphones. It selects the receiving stations and headsets and also controls the volume. |
| Flight Hour Recorder | 16 | This one tells you how much you owe the owner of the plane. |
| Tachometer | 17 | Same thing, but this one records the time you use the plane from the moment you start the engine till you turn it off. |
| EGT | 18 | Some planes have this to help smart pilots adjust the air/fuel mix for optimum performance as they climb in thin air. |
| ADF Bearing Indicator | 19 | This gives your bearings according to #12: the ADF Radio. This box is old, tricky and unreliable but is still widely used. |
| Accelerometer | 20 | In case you thought you were in the Navy, you can tell from this dial how many G's you and the plane are experiencing. Too high, too bad. |
| Low-VoltageWarning Light | 21 | If the engine or the battery is not generating enough electricity, this one blinks. |
| Ammeter | 22 | This one measures the current in the electric circuitry, but is it coming from the engine or the battery? |
| Map Compartment | 23 | Where you put everything that might fly about in rough weather. |
| Cabin Heat Control | 24 | If you're cold, the engine will lend you some hot air. |
| Cabin Air Control | 25 | If you are talking too much or there's a bit of heavy breathing going on and you're fogging up the cabin, you can use this control to get some fresh air - the sort you get at 6000 feet. |
| Circuit Breakers | 26 | You should check these - frequently - at the beginning of the flight to see if your smart boxes, at least, are correctly fed. |
| Wing Flaps Controls and Indicators | 27 | These control the electric flaps. They're clever devices that increase the size and angle of your wings when necessary. |
| Mixture Control | 28 | Use this to adjust the fuel/air mixture to provide the engine with optimal fuel. |
| Throttle | 29 | This one is to go forward. |
| Microphone | 30 | No comment. |
| Carburetor Heat Control | 31 | This is a very important and rather complicated control. If you are flying in damp air, and if the air temperature is within a certain range, the carburetor (that piece of the engine that brings in the air needed to ignite the fuel) could FREEZE, and then you could crash and die. So in cold or wet conditions, you always have the option of warming the carburetor, however, this means you lose power and expose the engine to some additional troubles. |
| Elevator Trim Control Wheel | 32 | This helps you to adjust the elevator (the thing that makes you go up and down) so that you can leave the control wheel alone instead of pulling on it like crazy. |
| Electrical Switches | 33 | These turn various lights on and off. |
| Oil Pressure Gauge | 34 | Like the one in you car. |
| Oil Temperature Gauge | 35 | Same thing. |
| Instrument Panel Lights | 36 | If you are flying at night, you need to see the control panel but you don't want it to dazzle you. This knob adjusts the light. |
| Fuel Quantity Indicators | 37 | VERY important, these tell you very APPROXIMATELY how much fuel you still have, or how much was left by the last guy who flew the airplane. |
| Ignition Switch | 38 | To start the engine, turn the key. |
| Master Switch | 39 | This turns on all the electrical devices in the airplane. |
| Primer | 40 | Use this to inject some fuel into the engine before starting it. |
| Parking Brakes Control | 41 | This brakes the wheels while the plane is on the ground. Note that it can be deadly if you forget to release the brakes before landing the plane. Then you can blow the main tires on landing, leaving you to proceed on down the runway as best you can. |
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