Pitot tube placement on sea harriers
- Thread starter Lysander
- Start date
This doesn't answer the question though.
Caporegime
random as ****
maybe something to do with VTOL. if it was on a wing it might be in some exhausty place...
I have no idea. Cant be that hard to find out. Wouldn't think here would have a clue....
Maybe because its a racist plane?
Why does it make more sense? They just need to be exposed to the airflow to measure airspeed, isn't that right?
I just put "pitot tube location" into Google image search and found just as many images showing it mounted on the nose as on the wing.
I just put "pitot tube location" into Google image search and found just as many images showing it mounted on the nose as on the wing.
Generally (though I’m sure as always there will be exceptions) when it’s on the wing it’s because it’s a propellor plane and you don’t want it in the prop wash.
Most jets have it near the front either on the fuselage or nose where it gets the cleanest unobstructed air.
Putting it on the wing when you don’t need to would just mean longer runs to the avionics… so the real question is why you would put it in the wing when you don’t have to.
Most jets have it near the front either on the fuselage or nose where it gets the cleanest unobstructed air.
Putting it on the wing when you don’t need to would just mean longer runs to the avionics… so the real question is why you would put it in the wing when you don’t have to.
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Soldato
Plus at the front it's closer to the instruments it's feeding air to in the cockpit/nose so shorter tubing runs, less chance of leaks, less weight etc.
Thats the reason the overwhelming majority of "jet age" aircraft have them fitted on/around the nose.
Thats the reason the overwhelming majority of "jet age" aircraft have them fitted on/around the nose.
Soldato
you're better than that!!
It is literally the first link:
https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/82589/why-is-the-pitot-tube-located-near-the-nose
https://www.key.aero/forum/modern-military-aviation/69281-nose-mounted-pitot-tubes-or-not
I absolutely am not
Soldato
Isn't there more airflow at the sides?
Soldato
Google truly is your friend:
https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/82589/why-is-the-pitot-tube-located-near-the-nose
https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/82589/why-is-the-pitot-tube-located-near-the-nose
Have you read any of the links shared?
It is the optimal place to measure clean air i.e. not disrupted by the fuselage of the aircraft itself, however it isn't a practical implementation and it interferes with radar systems.
Presumably given the harrier was an early aircraft in the grand scheme of things they didn't have a cleverer way of mounting it to get the accuracy they needed for the flight control systems to function but wasn't advanced enough or in a class where the radar issue was a total game changer.
The f16 batch 60 moved the pitot tube to enable more effective radar presumably in conjunction with avianics that could compensate with the less optimal measurement.
Jumbo's etc probably not that sensitive to the differences in accuracy hence mounting front and side is sufficient.
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Nov 2005
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- 12,452
Maybe the airflow gets disturbed in VTOL ?
Soldato
I think part of it is to do with the Harrier’s ability to hover. From footage I remember seeing, there’s a wind vane on the pitot tube, or at least there was when they were testing it back in the 60’s, so that the pilot had an indication of wind direction whilst hovering.