What is the function of the Pitot tube on aircraft?”
A Pitot (pronounced /ˈpiːtoʊ/) tube is a pressure measurement instrument used to measure fluid flow velocity. The Pitot tube was invented by the French engineer, Henri Pitot, in the early 1700s and was modified to its modern form in the mid 1800s by French scientist, Henry Darcy. It is widely used to determine the airspeed of an aircraft and to measure air and gas velocities in industrial applications. The basic Pitot tube simply consists of a tube pointing directly into the fluid flow. As this tube contains air, a pressure can be measured as the moving air is brought to rest.[clarification needed] This pressure is the stagnation pressure of the air, also known as the total pressure or (particularly in aviation circles) the pitot pressure. The measured stagnation pressure cannot of itself be used to determine the airspeed. However, since Bernoulli’s equation states that Stagnation Pressure = Static Pressure + Dynamic Pressure then the dynamic pressure is simply the difference between t
The Pitot tube is a device that measures ram air pressure caused by the aircraft moving through the atmosphere. A correlation exists between the amount of air pressure induced at the entrance to the tube and a reference point defined by the properties of still air (static air pressure) existing under the same air density conditions. The Pitot tube contains redundant heating elements to negate the effects of ice accumulation. This feature exists on all transport category airplanes and on most General Aviation (GA) airplanes certified for flight into known icing conditions. Airbus is suggesting that Pitot tubes be inspected to insure that they are working properly which means they’re capable of providing correct airspeed information and the heating elements are functioning properly.
