Ground proximity warning system

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Revision as of 18:29, 16 March 2010 by Zakalawe (talk | contribs) (→‎Modes)
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Ground proximity warning system (GPWS) is a system designed to alert pilots if their aircraft is in immediate danger of flying into the ground or an obstacle. Another common name for such a system is ground-collision warning system (GCWS).

Add to an aircraft

Add this code to your -set.xml file (above the </sim> tag), to make the GPWS operatable, set instrumentation/mk-viii/servicable to true.

<instrumentation>
 <mk-viii>
  <name>mk-viii</name>
  <number>0</number>
 </mk-viii>
</instrumentation>

The MkVIII depends on many other systems, which must also be configured correctly, or it will behave unexpectedly.

Mode 6 (bank angle and altitude above field callouts) depends on a serviceable attitude reference, and ideally a valid decision height. /instrumentation/attitude-indicator/indicated-roll-deg is the key attitude property, which comes from either the attitude indicator (which is vacuum powered) or the master reference gyro (which is electrically powered).

Modes

Mode 1
Provides 'sink rate' and 'pull up' alerts based on descent rate at low radio altitudes (below 2500')
Mode 2
Provides 'pull up' and 'terrain' callouts around rising terrain
Mode 3
Provides alerts against altitude loss after takeoff (or a go-around). Losing altitude triggers a 'don't sink' alert.
Mode 4
Provides alerts against insufficient clearance, based upon the aircraft configuration and flight phase (takeoff, cruise, approach), and independent of terrain closure rate (i.e situations that modes 1 & 2 would not alert). Alerts include 'too low terrain', 'too low gear' and 'too low flaps'. Also protects against a gear-up landing or approach without flaps in the landing configuration.
Mode 5
Provides 'glideslope' alerts when deviating below a glideslope while established on a localizer.
Mode 6
Provides callouts based on the specified decision-height and radio altitude. This includes a 'minimums' alert based upon the decision-height, and callouts while descending through various radio altitudes (1000', 500', 200', 100', 50', 40', 30', 20' and 10'). Also provides a 'bank angle' alert based upon excessive aircraft roll.

External links

  • Docs by original developer 1 2