GE

Measurement & Control

Introduction to Pitot
Static Testing
Contents
01. Introduction
02. Science behind Pitot Static Pressure
03. Connecting Air Data Test Sets to Pitot Tubes
04. Remove Before Flight
05. Connecting to the Pitot Tube
06. Understanding Multiple Connection Ports
07. Measurement Accuracy
08. Leak & ERP Testing
The Air Data Test Set in essence
simulates altitude, rate of climb
and air speed.
An ADTS is seemingly able to ‘fly’ the aircraft on the ground,
even if you want to fly faster than the speed of sound!

Introduction
An Air Data Test Set (ADTS) or
Pitot Static Tester is a piece of
equipment used to test aircraft
flight instruments while the
aircraft is on the ground. Many
instruments in an aircraft’s
cockpit are based on measuring
various pressures from the air
around the plane when it is
in flight. By using a precision
pressure controller to recreate
specific flight pressures at sense
points on the outside of the
aircraft’s skin, engineers can
create a simulated flight for the
cockpit instruments and test that
these vital safety systems are
working and correctly calibrated,
ready for the next flight.
The air data test set in essence
simulates altitude, rate of climb,
air speed and rate of acceleration.
The ADTS is seemingly able to
‘fly’ the aircraft and even if you
want to fly faster than the speed
of sound at Mach 2, an ADTS can
handle it!
His theory also works for air
pressure and other gases and so
a modern version of his simple
measurement tube is now fitted
to virtually every aircraft and is
a called a Pitot Tube System. The
mathematical principles of his
system are well explained by this
eFunda article at http://tinyurl.
com/5rztn. An overview of how an
aircraft’s Pitot system works is as
follows.
The forward opening point of the
Pitot (Pt) tube receives air at a
higher ‘impact’ pressure than the
side facing Static (Ps) tube that
senses the free stream air.
The difference between these
two pressures is known as the
dynamic pressure (Qc) and is
proportional to aircraft’s Indicated
Air Speed (IAS), also known as
Calibrated Air Speed (CAS).
The pressure of the free stream
air (Ps) is the same as the ambient
air all around the aircraft. This
ambient ‘barometric’ pressure
decreases with increasing
atmospheric altitude. The
Static (Ps) pressure is inversely
proportional to aircraft altitude.
A great web based Pitot Static
Simulator has been created by
Luiz Roberto Monteiro de Oliveira.
You can experiment with Pitot
and Static pressures and see the
effects on aircraft instruments.
Visit http://tinyurl.com/p64v5q8.

Science behind Pitot Static

Pressure
The science of aviation air data
measurement was discovered
by the French hydraulic engineer
Henri Pitot (1695 - 1771). Henri’s
prime interest was measuring the
velocity of water in the river Seine,
but his Pitot tube design proved
to be more useful than simply
measuring a liquid’s velocity.
Connecting Air Data Test
Sets to Pitot Tubes
The aircraft Static and Pitot ports construction. Sensing the Static or
are designed in a number of
different styles, some of which
may be specific to a particular
aircraft type. Making a piped
connection to test the pitot
system will usually require a
special pneumatic connection
fixture or Pitot Static adaptor.
Where the two ports are
combined within the one probe
then a combined port adaptor is
employed. The adaptor is pushed
over the probe and locked in
position with compression rings. It
contains precision seals to create Two methods are possible.
partitions between the Pitot and
Static openings on the probe
surface.
Sometimes the Pitot and Static
connections are found on
different places on the aircraft’s expanding syringe needle) that is
surface, so the two connections
must then be made using
separate adaptors for each
function. Sensing the Pitot or
dynamic pressure always requires
a forward facing probe and
the adaptor will be of simpler
ambient pressure always requires
a side facing port or one that is
protected from the impact air
encountered in forward flight.
This is often seen as a small
pattern of ‘pepper pot’ like holes,
flush with the skin of the aircraft
in order to create minimum air
turbulence in that region. Making
robust connection to such a port
is more of a challenge, since there
are no obvious metal points to
grasp!
A) A special ‘Clico’ style adaptor
is available with an outer ‘O’ ring
seal large enough to encompass
the entire hole pattern, and
has an extendible prong (like an
inserted through the centre hole
and used to pull down the adaptor
seal against the aircraft surface.
B) Alternative style adaptors are
available that use vacuum suction
cups to gain a grip of the aircraft
surface in order to press the
port connection seal around the
groups of holes. These may either
use over-centre suction clamps
or use an external source vacuum
line to apply continuous suction
to the fixing cups. The over
centre clamps can only be used
successfully on totally smooth
areas.
There is such a wide variety of
Pitot Static port arrangements
on different aircraft today that it
would be difficult and expensive
to provide a suitable array of
adaptors with every ADTS sold.
Specialist companies provide
these parts to the industry. They
will either be supplied with each
aircraft as they enter service or
can be purchased as a matching
adaptor set for a known aircraft
type.
WHY CALIBRATE?
• To comply with regulation
• To maximize process performance
• To maintain safety
• For quality control
Remove Before Flight
Whilst the aircraft is on the
ground you will often see brightly
coloured port covers or flags
hanging from the Pitot Static
ports. These are fitted not only to
protect and warn airport staff and
service engineers not to damage
these relatively fragile structures,
but also to stop the bugs crawling
inside them on a warm day.
A spider or fly stuck down a Pitot
tube could cause a blockage and
serious airspeed measurement
errors. It is of course essential
that these intentional blockages
are removed before flight, or
air data testing, and so they are
made highly visible with coloured
tabs and flags.
Connecting to the Pitot
Tube
Once the adaptors are in place
on the aircraft ports, suitable
length hoses with the correct
terminations will be required.
It is obviously of advantage to
colour code the two connection
hoses to avoid mistakes in aircraft
connection. However there is
no standard or universal colour
coding for Pitot Static testing
within the aviation industry. In
the majority of the world red for
Static and blue for Pitot is the
common colour code but the USA
will often operate with blue Static
and red Pitot.
Understanding Multiple
Port Connections
Trying to apply two simple Ps and
Pt port connections can still be
a little bewildering when faced
with a real aircraft. It rapidly
becomes apparent that all large
commercial aircraft have more
than one Ps and one Pt port! In
order to create a fail-safe system
for this vital flight information,
multiple pressure measuring
systems are fed from similar
ports placed at different locations
on the aircraft surface. It is quite
typical to have three complete air
data measuring systems installed
within one aircraft. These are
usually referred to as Captain,
First officer and Standby.
The locations of ports and cross
feed routings are designed
so that a bird strike or other
system failure on one side of
the aircraft will not affect all
the critical measuring systems
simultaneously. The aircraft
air data management systems
and flight crew can constantly
compare multiple readings of
the same critical parameters
and take any necessary steps
to isolate faulty sub-systems.
When connecting a ADTS it may
be necessary to blank unused
port openings on the opposite
side of the aircraft. The primary
instruments for the Captain
and First officer are now often
Electronic Flight Instrument
System (EFIS) display panels
driven by an Air Data Computer
(ADC) that actually measures
the port pressures and then
processes and presents these as
a graphic display. The Standby
Instrument set is often still a
more traditional pneumatic /
mechanical design requiring no
electrical power to operate.
Measurement Accuracy
Testing the pitot static system
is obviously critical for the
safe operation of the aircraft.
Numerous Airworthiness
Authorities have now adopted
policies requiring the integrity
and accuracy of altitude
indicating systems to be verified
periodically. This is especially
important for aircraft flying in
regions with Reduced Vertical
Separations Minimum (RVSM).
RVSM allows aircrafts to maintain
1000 feet vertical separation
instead of 2000 feet. Due to this,
the Airworthiness Authorities
require errors resulting in the
static system to be closely
monitored. Thus, testing and
calibrating with a highly accurate
system has never been so vital.
Engineers should ensure that the
accuracy of any ADTS test set
delivers compliance with RVSM
performance.
Leak & ERP Testing
ADTS sets can be used to cover
other key tests such as leak
testing and Engine Pressure
Ratio Testing (EPR). It is crucial
to correct any leak found with
the hose connections or aircraft
systems before proceeding with
any further testing as it would
interfere with the results of other
avionics testing. Some ADTS test
sets offer leak testing, so aircraft
engineers don’t need to carry
multiple tools and can determine
the location of the leak by a
simple process of elimination.
Leak tests avoid the worst case
scenario: having a leak whilst
flying 40,000 feet high. The ability
to do a leak test enables aircraft
engineers to determine whether
the leak is in the ADTS, the
hosepipes or the aircraft.
A more niche form of avionic
testing is EPR testing. An ADTS
can be used when the aircraft is
on the ground to simulate EPR in
order to validate the cockpits EPR
measurement instrumentation.
This simulation will also identify GE ADTS 500 series
any leakage of interconnecting GE manufactures a range of Air
sensor pipework. Data Test Sets for large and small
civil and military aircraft. They
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