Wort des Tages
9 May 2026
artificial horizon
nounLuftfahrttechnik
An instrument that displays the pitch and roll of an aircraft in flight by comparing its attitude to a gyroscopically-maintained indication of the flat horizon line.
Warum dieses Wort
The name is literal: it stands in for the real horizon when cloud or night hides it. A spirit level cannot do the job because in a turn it settles to the resultant of gravity and acceleration, so the reference has to be a spinning gyro.
In use
Give it a minute after power up; the artificial horizon is still erecting and it'll read a few degrees nose down until the gyro settles.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.