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ATPL subject 022

ATPL Instrumentation: what it covers and how to study it

Instrumentation (subject 022) covers the instruments and systems that tell you what the aeroplane is doing and help fly it: air data, gyroscopic and flight instruments, automatic flight systems and warning systems.

By Matthew Dowell, airline training captain and Chief Flight Instructor. A revision guide, not approved by any regulator. Your training organisation sets the syllabus and exam rules, and regulations always take precedence.

What the Instrumentation paper covers

• Air data: pressure, airspeed, altitude and temperature measurement
• Gyroscopic instruments and heading references
• Flight and engine instruments
• Automatic flight control systems
• Warning and recording systems

Where students find it hard

Students often learn how each instrument works but lose marks on its errors and limitations, such as what makes an indication wrong and when. Questions ask you to predict the effect of a fault or a change in conditions, so understanding the principle matters more than remembering a diagram.

How to study Instrumentation

• For every instrument, learn the principle first, then the errors and what causes them.
• Practise questions that ask what an instrument will show after a failure.
• Link the instruments to the systems that use their data, so the subject hangs together.

The Mastering ATPL book for this subject

The Mastering ATPL Instrumentation book is available on Amazon and through the Other stores links.

Mastering ATPL · Subject 022

Instrumentation

Air data, gyroscopic and flight instruments, automatic flight and warning systems.

Buy on Amazon UK Amazon US Other stores

Also on Amazon in Europe: Amazon.de · Amazon.fr · Amazon.es · Amazon.it · Amazon.nl

How this book is organised

The book follows the topics listed above, in turn, starting with air data; gyroscopic instruments and heading references; flight and engine instruments, so you can see which part of the paper you are covering at any point. It is a complete revision guide and question bank built on the full published learning objectives for the subject, and it ends with a mock examination weighted as the real one. Work through a section, test yourself on it, and keep the mock examination for the end, under timed conditions.

Related subjects

• ATPL Aircraft General Knowledge
• ATPL Principles of Flight
• ATPL Mass and Balance

See also: all 13 ATPL subjects and 14 study guides · how the EASA ATPL exams work · what order to study and sit the papers · Instrumentation in the airline technical interview.