Definition
The cockpit instruments a pilot uses to determine the airplane's attitude — its pitch and bank relative to the horizon — when outside visual cues are unavailable or unreliable. The primary instrument is the attitude indicator, supported by the airspeed indicator, altimeter, vertical speed indicator, heading indicator, and turn coordinator.
Plain English
The instruments inside the cockpit that tell the pilot how the airplane is positioned in the air — whether the nose is pointed up or down and whether the wings are level or banked — without needing to look outside.
Context Anchor
Seen in integrated flight instruction, where a student learns to compare the outside view with the cockpit instruments while controlling the airplane.
Derivation
Attitude originally meant posture or position. That helps here because an airplane’s attitude is its flying posture: where the nose and wings are pointed in relation to the horizon.
Why Pilots Care
Maintains precise aircraft control when external visual references are lost or degraded, directly supporting safe flight in low-visibility conditions.
Grounding Statement
If haze or clouds make the natural horizon hard to see, the instruments can still show whether the airplane is nose-high, nose-low, wings-level, or turning.
Intuition Check
Attitude here does not mean mood or behavior. In flying, attitude means the airplane’s position relative to the horizon.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor had the student practice level turns using outside visual cues first, then repeated the maneuver using only instrument attitude references.
Example Sentence 2
When entering the clouds, the pilot transitioned smoothly to instrument attitude references to keep the wings level.