Instruments
How to read every dial and gauge in the Su-27 cockpit: airspeed, altitude, attitude, engines, fuel and more.
On this page
Most of what you need in flight is on the HUD and the displays. The round gauges on the front panel back them up, and they always work. Double-click any gauge to lean in and read it; double-click again to sit back.
The standby gauges
The row under the displays, from left to right:
| Gauge | What it shows | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| AOA · G | Angle of attack (left arc) and G (right arc) | AoA from -10 to 35 degrees, red from 25. G from -2 to +10, red from 9 |
| IAS · M | Indicated airspeed and Mach number | The long needle on the outer ring reads knots, ×100, up to 900. The short needle on the inner ring reads Mach, from 0.6 to 3.0 |
| ALT | Altitude above sea level, in feet | Long needle: 1,000 ft per turn. Short needle: 10,000 ft per turn |
| ADI | Attitude: pitch and bank | The ball moves behind the orange aircraft symbol; the bank scale is on the rim |
| RAD ALT | Height above the ground, in feet | 0 to 300 ft on the first half of the dial (red below 150 ft), then squeezed up to 3,000 ft |
| VVI | Vertical speed, ×1,000 ft/min | Zero at 9 o'clock, climb above, descent below. The scale is squeezed: 2,000 ft/min, then 10,000, then 30,000 |
| RPM % | Engine speed, a needle for each engine | Idle is 68%, full power about 100%. Green from 70 to 100%, red from 103% |
| EGT °C | Exhaust temperature, a needle for each engine | Rises with power and higher still in afterburner. It stays out of the red in normal use |
Left column
| Gauge | What it shows |
|---|---|
| O₂ | Oxygen bottle pressure, full at 150. It lasts about three hours of flying; the ground crew top it up whenever you stand still on the ground, and it is full after a respawn. The O2 LOW lamp lights at 40 |
| FLAPS ° | Flap position: 0 when up, 30 when down |
| Gear lamps | Three green lamps (nose, left, right) when the gear is down and locked; a red lamp while it moves or when it should be down. See Landing gear and brakes |
| Gear lever | Red wheel-shaped handle: UP and DN |
Right column
| Gauge | What it shows | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| FUEL ×1000 KG | Two pointers on two scales: TOTAL on the left, FEED on the right | TOTAL reads up to 9 tonnes, so with full tanks (9.4 t) it sits at the top. FEED reads up to 1.5 t and stays near 1.3 t until the fuel runs low |
| HYD | Hydraulic pressure in the two systems | 0 to 300, green from 200 to 240. It reads 210 when all is well and falls with battle damage, as the controls get weaker. The SYS page shows the same figure |
| BRAKE | Wheel brake pressure, left and right | Rises while you hold the brakes |
The most useful fuel figures are on the SYS page of the displays: fuel on board, fuel flow and how many minutes of flying you have left at the present burn. See Engines and fuel.
Upper left corner
- CLOCK. Hours, minutes and seconds: the time of day in the game. When time is frozen in the Weather settings, the clock stops too.
- CABIN. Cabin altitude in km and cabin pressure. It changes with your altitude; there is nothing to set.
- Weapon lamps. Two rows: R-27R, R-27T, R-27ER, R-27ET, R-73, GUN, READY and LAUNCH. The lamp for the selected missile lights, and GUN lights in GUN mode. READY lights in the air when the gun is selected with rounds left, or a missile is selected in BVR or WVR; it doesn't mean the missile has a target. LAUNCH (red) lights for two seconds each time a missile leaves the rail. There is no lamp for the R-77. Weapons have their own pages.
Between your knees
- HSI (compass display): the compass card turns with your heading, and the needle points to your home airfield. The course and distance windows are painted and don't change.
- TRIM lamps (P, R, Y): lit while the engines run, to say the trim is neutral. The fly-by-wire needs no trim, so they never go out in flight.
The upper right corner
The warning lamps and the SPO-15 radar warning display. They have their own page: Warnings.
Checked against FlightOut 0.5.2.