Recording Flight Parameters for Routine Maintenance: Design Philosophy of the MIDAS Range of Magnetic Tape Flight Recorders Available to Purchase

THE MIDAS comprehensive routine flight data recording system has been developed from equipment used primarily for aircraft research and testing programmes. Almost every operating parameter in an aircraft in the course of normal operations is transduced into electrical form for the purpose of aircraft instrumentation, and due to the high input impedance of the MIDAS CMM 400 series recorders a parallel connexion to the transducer circuit is generally all that is necessary in the way of installation wiring. Suitable compact and easily installed commercial types of transducers are readily available to meet any special requirements. As these parameters already exist in electrical form it is a comparatively simple step to transfer them to magnetic tape. A frequency modulated type of coding system is used.