## Concept explanation A basic training cockpit often groups six **primary flight instruments** together so a pilot can quickly read the aircraft’s attitude, speed, altitude, direction, climb or descent rate, and turning motion. Each instrument has one main job: the **attitude indicator** shows aircraft orientation, the **airspeed indicator** shows speed through the air, the **altimeter** shows height, the **heading indicator** shows direction, the **vertical speed indicator** shows climb or descent rate, and the **turn indicator** shows turning behavior. Learning these roles helps you recognize how pilots build a full picture of what the airplane is doing. ## What you see You’re looking at a simplified front-facing instrument panel arranged in a tidy two-row grid, similar to a training aircraft “six-pack.” Each round gauge has a label underneath, and when you move your pointer over one, that instrument glows and a short explanation appears in the focus card beside the panel. The right-side controls let you adjust the visual emphasis while keeping the same six instruments in view. ## Try it yourself - **Hover over each gauge** and match its name to the plain-language description in the focus card. - **Compare attitude and heading** to notice the difference between aircraft orientation and compass direction. - **Move from airspeed to altimeter to vertical speed** and think about how speed, height, and climb rate tell different parts of the flight story. - **Adjust the glow slider** to make the active instrument stand out more or less strongly. - **Change the gauge size slider** to see how layout and readability change on the panel. - **Switch the label style dropdown** to compare shorter lowercase labels with title case names. - **Press the reset button** to return the panel to its default highlight settings. ## Concept explanation An **attitude indicator** shows how an aircraft is oriented relative to the real horizon. **Pitch** tells you whether the nose is pointed up or down, and **bank** tells you whether the wings are level or tilted into a turn. In this instrument, the little airplane symbol stays fixed while the sky-ground horizon moves behind it, helping you read the aircraft’s attitude at a glance. ## What you see You’re looking at a large round flight instrument with blue **sky** above and brown **ground** below. The bright center airplane symbol represents your aircraft, while the horizon line and pitch markings slide up or down for pitch and rotate for bank. The top arc marks help you judge roll angle, and the control panel on the right lets you adjust the same motion with sliders. ## Try it yourself - **Drag upward inside the instrument** and notice the horizon move downward, showing the nose pitching up. - **Drag downward** and watch the horizon rise, showing the nose pitching down. - **Drag left or right** to bank the display and see how the horizon tilts relative to the fixed airplane symbol. - **Move both horizontally and vertically** to combine pitch and bank, just like a climbing turn or descending turn. - **Use the `Pitch` and `Bank` sliders** to make precise changes and compare them with the drag interaction. - **Press `Reset`** to return to straight-and-level flight at `0°` pitch and `0°` bank. ## Concept explanation An **airspeed indicator** shows how fast the airplane is moving through the **air** around it, not just how fast it moves over the ground. In this simplified view, increasing **throttle** adds power, which makes the airplane speed up through the air, so the indicated airspeed rises. Real airplanes are affected by many factors, but this beginner-friendly model highlights the basic relationship: more power usually leads to more indicated airspeed. ## What you see You can see a large circular gauge with a moving needle and colored arcs that suggest normal and caution ranges. To the right, a side-view airplane leaves a short motion trail behind it. As the throttle changes, the needle sweeps upward or downward and the trail becomes longer or shorter, helping you connect engine power with the airspeed reading. ## Try it yourself - **Move the throttle slider upward** and watch the needle climb around the gauge. - **Slide the throttle back down** and notice how the indicated airspeed eases lower instead of changing instantly. - **Look at the airplane’s trail while increasing throttle** to see the visual cue for greater speed through the air. - **Compare the needle position with the colored arcs** to notice when the reading is in a safer range versus a caution range. - **Press the Reset button** to return to the starting training setup and try again. ## Concept explanation An **altimeter** shows an aircraft’s altitude above **sea level**, not just how high it looks above the ground in front of you. When the airplane **climbs**, the indicated altitude increases; when it **descends**, the indicated altitude decreases. In a round altimeter, the pointers sweep around the dial to represent changing altitude, while the number window gives a direct reading in feet. ## What you see You’re looking at a small airplane in a simple sky-and-landscape scene, plus a round altimeter beside it. The airplane’s vertical position matches its altitude: moving the airplane upward makes the altitude reading go up, and moving it downward makes the reading go down. The dial’s hands and digital-style number window update together so you can connect aircraft position with the instrument indication. ## Try it yourself - **Drag the airplane upward** and watch the altimeter reading increase. - **Drag the airplane downward** and notice the pointers rotate to a lower altitude. - **Move the altitude slider** to set an exact altitude and compare the airplane’s position with the dial. - **Adjust the auto climb / descend slider** to make the airplane rise or fall automatically. - **Press the Reset button** to return to the starting altitude of `4500 ft`. ## Concept explanation A **heading indicator** shows the direction an aircraft’s nose is pointing, measured in degrees around a compass. A **turn indicator** does something different: it shows whether the aircraft is currently turning left, turning right, or staying level. When you hold a turn, the heading does not jump instantly to a new number. Instead, the aircraft’s direction changes gradually over time, so the compass card keeps rotating as long as the turn continues. ## What you see You are looking at a compass-style heading indicator with a fixed reference mark at the top and a small airplane symbol above it. The rotating card underneath carries the compass markings, so the number under the top reference is the current heading. Off to the side, the turn indicator deflects left or right when a turn is underway, showing the rate and direction of that turn. ## Try it yourself - **Press and hold the left arrow** and watch the turn indicator lean left while the compass card rotates steadily. - **Press and hold the right arrow** to reverse the turn and see the heading begin changing the other way. - **Release the arrow key** and notice that the turn indicator returns toward center as the heading stops changing. - **Adjust the turn rate limit slider** to compare a gentle turn with a faster one. - **Change the turn direction dropdown** to demonstrate the same motion using the control panel. - **Use Reset heading** to bring the display back to `000°` and try another turn sequence. ## Concept explanation A **vertical speed indicator** tells you how fast your **altitude** is changing, not how high you are right now. An airplane can be at the same altitude while climbing, descending, or flying level depending on whether its altitude is increasing, decreasing, or staying steady over time. That is why the gauge needle centers on `0` for level flight, moves above zero for a climb, and below zero for a descent. ## What you see You’re looking at a side-view airplane inside an altitude area, plus a circular vertical speed gauge. The airplane’s height on the screen represents altitude, while its tilt and motion show whether that altitude is changing. The faint trail marks the recent path so you can compare the airplane’s current altitude with the direction it has been moving. ## Try it yourself - **Move the climb rate slider to the middle** and notice the needle settle at `0` while the airplane flies level at a nearly constant altitude. - **Drag the slider toward climb** and watch the needle swing above zero as the airplane tips upward and its trail starts slanting up. - **Drag the slider toward descent** and see the needle move below zero while the airplane points downward and the trail slopes down. - **Pause at different airplane heights** and compare what stays the same or changes: the airplane can be high or low, but the gauge only cares about how quickly altitude is changing at that moment. - **Move the slider back and forth slowly** to connect the steepness of the airplane’s path with the direction and size of the vertical speed reading. ## Concept explanation A navigation aid compares your aircraft’s **heading** with the **bearing** to a selected **waypoint**. If the waypoint is not lined up with the aircraft’s nose, the indicator tells you whether it is to the left or right, so you know which way to turn. When the waypoint is straight ahead, your current heading is aimed directly toward the destination. ## What you see You are looking at a top-down map with the aircraft near the center and a waypoint marker you can move. A dashed line shows the direct path to the waypoint, the curved teal arc shows the angle between the aircraft’s nose and that path, and the guidance display summarizes the result as left, right, or straight ahead. The control panel on the right lets you rotate the aircraft and compare heading with waypoint bearing on the small compass. ## Try it yourself - **Drag the waypoint** to the left side of the aircraft and watch the guidance change to show that you should turn left. - **Drag the waypoint** directly in front of the aircraft’s nose and notice when the display switches to `Straight ahead`. - **Move the heading slider** slowly and see how rotating the aircraft changes the relative direction even when the waypoint stays still. - **Press the `A` or `D` keys** to make small heading changes like a pilot adjusting course. - **Click `Put waypoint ahead`** to place the waypoint along the current heading, then **rotate away from it** to see the indicator immediately call for a correction. - **Click `Center waypoint`** to reset the scene and repeat with a new heading and waypoint position.