Plain English Meaning

Cockpit instruments that work by using a small, fast-spinning wheel inside them. The wheel's behavior is what tells the pilot which way the aircraft is pointing, banking, or turning.

Full Definition

Flight instruments that use a spinning rotor (gyroscope) driven by vacuum, pressure, or electrical power to sense and display aircraft attitude, heading, or rate of turn. The three traditional examples are the attitude indicator, heading indicator, and turn coordinator (or turn-and-slip indicator). They rely on the physical properties of a spinning — and — rather than on or digital processing.