page_title: Pitot-static system
section_title: Pitot-static instrument
hierarchical_section_title: Pitot-static system / Pitot-static instrument
caption_attribution_description: English: Extracted from the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, AC 61-23C, online at http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/handbook/.
context_page_description: A pitot-static system is a system of pressure-sensitive instruments that is most often used in aviation to determine an aircraft's airspeed, Mach number, altitude, and altitude trend. A pitot-static system generally consists of a pitot tube, a static port, and the pitot-static instruments. Other instruments that might be connected are air data computers, flight data recorders, altitude encoders, cabin pressurization controllers, and various airspeed switches. Errors in pitot-static system readings can be extremely dangerous as the information obtained from the pitot static system, such as altitude, is potentially safety-critical. Several commercial airline disasters have been traced to a failure of the pitot-static system.
context_section_description: The pitot-static system obtains pressures for interpretation by the pitot-static instruments.  While the explanations below explain traditional, mechanical instruments, many modern aircraft use an air data computer (ADC) to calculate airspeed, rate of climb, altitude and Mach number. In some aircraft, two ADCs receive total and static pressure from independent pitot tubes and static ports, and the aircraft's flight data computer compares the information from both computers and checks one against the other. There are also "standby instruments", which are back-up pneumatic instruments employed in the case of problems with the primary instruments.
caption: Airspeed indicator diagram showing pressure sources from both the pitot tube and static port
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