the climbing rate gauge should have HUGE variations caused by atmosphere

[SQB]

Originally Posted by IvanK

Why Water couldn't be used a Bob Hoover classic:

(video here)

Dangit, you beat me to it! This video demonstrates that non-aerodynamic (simple relative mass * gravity systems) do not give correct readings of attitude and roll. Precession, while annoying for sure, is *extremely* minor when compared to this. Gyroscopes can be re-centred using balance magnets, negating the effects of precession anyway.

To answer Raaaids initial question, I ask you "how would you, using as simple a device as possible, figure out what components of any vertical incoming air is wind (which can be much faster than 20km/h (~5ms^-1) at higher altitudes) and what is the climbing rate." Remember that in normal flight (i.e. when you are actually looking at the climbing rate gague) you climb or descend at ~2-5 thousand feet per minute which is ~25.5ms^-1, not too different from your conservative estimation of wind.


Also, using a pressure based system, pressure changes by ~33hPa per thousand feet, whereas the most brutal low fronts will change pressure by 10-15hPa over the course of several hours. Small variations in pressure at ground level have surprisingly large effects, so it's easy to forget that by climbing in an a/c you travel through a huge range of pressures.