Position of Pitot tube
Jaap Berkhout
airfield. due to the strong wind and the lack of a steerable nosewheel
on the plane it turned out we were grounded. While I was walking in
the hangar, I noticed that on all (single-engined) planes the Pitot
tube was situated on the left wing.
My questions:
1) Is the Pitot tube on singel-engined planes always located on the
left?
2) Is there a reason to put them either left or right? If so, which?
If not, is it just one of those historically determined things?
Jaap Berkhout
Roy Smith
> 2) Is there a reason to put them either left or right? If so, which?
> If not, is it just one of those historically determined things?
My guess is it's on the left so it's easier for the pilot to see it
(i.e. determine if it's iced over or you just plain forgot to take
the cover off while on the ground). At least that makes sense for
high-wingers. Where do they put the pitot on low-wingers?
--
Roy Smith <r...@nyu.edu>
Hippocrates Project, Department of Microbiology, Coles 202
NYU School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
"This never happened to Bart Simpson."
Jaap Berkhout
>My guess is it's on the left so it's easier for the pilot to see it
>(i.e. determine if it's iced over or you just plain forgot to take
>the cover off while on the ground). At least that makes sense for
>high-wingers. Where do they put the pitot on low-wingers?
We have about 4 low-wingers to every high-winger. Pitot tube sits on
the left on all of them. I got some other answers like:
- because in the pattern aircraft make left turns, so this location
will always indicate a lower airspeed than the actual airspeed,
which is erring on the safe side;
- because on most planes the prop wash circulates clockwise and so
the left side is the most unaffected.
All plausible, but I still wonder...
Jaap Berkhout
Bob Furtaw
Smith) wrote:
> berk...@phys.uva.nl (Jaap Berkhout) wrote:
> > 2) Is there a reason to put them either left or right? If so, which?
> > If not, is it just one of those historically determined things?
> My guess is it's on the left so it's easier for the pilot to see it
> (i.e. determine if it's iced over or you just plain forgot to take
> the cover off while on the ground). At least that makes sense for
> high-wingers. Where do they put the pitot on low-wingers?
By being in the left, it is also closer to the altimeter. This avoids
crossing behind the instrument panel and avoids the chance on physical
interference and keeps the "tube length" shorter.
Bob Furtaw - W8IL fur...@comm.mot.com
CFI-A/G/I/MEI, CGI-A/I
All disclaimers ever written by anybody apply. :-)
Dennis M Straussfogel
> berk...@phys.uva.nl (Jaap Berkhout) wrote:
> > 2) Is there a reason to put them either left or right? If so, which?
> > If not, is it just one of those historically determined things?
I think the most obvious reason is that the pressure driven
instruments are usually on the left side (with the pilot) so it would
make no sense to put the probe on the right then have to route the
tubing across the cockpit.
Denny Straussfogel
Roy Smith
>By being in the left, it is also closer to the altimeter. This avoids
>crossing behind the instrument panel and avoids the chance on physical
>interference and keeps the "tube length" shorter.
Except that the altimeter is not connected to the pitot tube. The
airspeed indicator is, though.
Roy Smith
>By being in the left, it is also closer to the altimeter. This avoids
>crossing behind the instrument panel and avoids the chance on physical
>interference and keeps the "tube length" shorter.
Except that the altimeter is not connected to the pitot tube. The
airspeed indicator is, though.
--
Bob Furtaw
(Bob Furtaw) wrote:
> By being in the left, it is also closer to the altimeter. This avoids
^^^^^^^^^
AIRSPEED of course. I was interrupted when someone came intro my office.
:-(
Bob Furtaw
I'm working at home and can't open my usual multiple windows to get it
exact, have guessed. Sorry for the inconvenience to readers who don't
use threaded newsreaders. MFS]
In article <941123160...@ferhino.dfrf.nasa.gov>,
r...@mchip00.med.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) wrote:
> fur...@comm.mot.com (Bob Furtaw) writes:
> >By being in the left, it is also closer to the altimeter. This avoids
> >crossing behind the instrument panel and avoids the chance on physical
> >interference and keeps the "tube length" shorter.
>
> Except that the altimeter is not connected to the pitot tube. The
> airspeed indicator is, though.
Correct, typo while having an office interruption. Although, one
could argue that I didn't say "connected", and the altimeter is
relatively near the aispeed...nahh...I was wrong...sorry for the typo.
Bob F.
--
Bob Furtaw - W8IL
Paul Raveling
|>
|> 1) Is the Pitot tube on singel-engined planes always located on the
|> left?
|>
|> 2) Is there a reason to put them either left or right? If so, which?
|> If not, is it just one of those historically determined things?
The main issue in pitot tube placement is to keep it in
air that the airframe & engine doesn't disturb much.
Popular pitot places on sailplanes tend to be the nose
and the tail. Tail-mounted variants are attached to the
leading edge of the vertical stabilizer and generally
are total energy probes, not just plain vanilla pitot tubes.
A plus for centerline instead of wing locations is that
they reduce error due to yaw movement at low airspeeds.
Of coures sticking an engine and a prop on the snout
makes both nose and tail much less desirable, and leaves
only wings as decent pitot locations. My guess for why
the real reason the left wing is popular is that most
people are right-handed, but that's a conjecture for
a cognitive science newsgroup (if there is one).
-------------------
Paul Raveling
Rave...@netcom.com
David Cattrall
: |> left?
: only wings as decent pitot locations. My guess for why
: the real reason the left wing is popular is that most
: people are right-handed, but that's a conjecture for
: a cognitive science newsgroup (if there is one).
How about the fact that the airspeed indicator is on the left side of
the pannel. Less venting/wiring is required to go from the left wing
to the airspeed indicator than is required to go from the right wing.
Just a thought :-)
--=)Geoff(=--
Martin
>|>
>|> 1) Is the Pitot tube on singel-engined planes always located on the
>|> left?
>|>
>|> 2) Is there a reason to put them either left or right? If so, which?
>|> If not, is it just one of those historically determined things?
I think there are two reasons for it being on the LH wing:-
a) The instruments are on the LH side of the cockpit, in front of the
pilot, so tubes can be shorter with a simpler run behind the panel
b) Most low speed turns are left hand (at most airports, anyway) and
so when it is most important, the pitot tube is on the inside radius,
and so seeing a slower airstream. Therefore the asi will read low,
and the pilot will keep the speed up.
Martin
L.M.N. Peiris
The fact that the pitot tube is located on the port(left) wing could
have something to do with the direction of the rotation of the blade.
The blade produces a spiralling vortex stream called an airscrew. When
this spiral hits the wings, may be the port side is less affected than
the starboard side as far as pressure fluctuations are concerned. So
it is desirable to have the pitot tube in the port side.
Navin Peiris.
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Reply to lm...@eng.cam.ac.uk
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Steven H Philipson
John Goscinski <gosc...@sunny.dab.ge.com> wrote:
>No one ever told me why the pitot would be on the left, but IMHO it is
>so the pilot, seated on the left, would be able to easily check the
>pitot for ice, or other obstruction.
This doesn't explain why they're on the left on all low-wing
Piper's, Mooney's, and (I believe) Bonanzas where they are completely
out of sight of the pilot.
Steve
Ed Falk
>
> This doesn't explain why they're on the left on all low-wing
>Piper's, Mooney's, and (I believe) Bonanzas where they are completely
>out of sight of the pilot.
*I* always assumed it was on the left because the airspeed indicator is
on the left.
--
-ed falk, sun microsystems
fa...@sun.com
"Towards the end, the smell of their air began to change"