Turn Coordinator
Physical Turn Coordinator for the Cessna 172SP Six-Pack panel — bezel, miniature aircraft mechanism, inclinometer, and X-Plane dataref mapping.
4 min read Updated 2026-10
Overview
The Turn Coordinator sits bottom-left in the six-pack "T" arrangement. It shows rate of turn via a miniature aircraft silhouette banking against a graduated scale, with an inclinometer ball below for slip/skid indication.
Construction
Like the other six-pack instruments, this gauge is built as a self-contained module:
- Bezel / Face Plate — 3D-printed bezel with a printed turn-rate scale around the miniature aircraft cutout
- Dial / Needle — miniature aircraft silhouette in place of a needle
- Internal Mechanics — single-axis servo driving the miniature aircraft's bank angle; the inclinometer ball is a separate sealed, fluid-filled tube — purely mechanical, no electronics
- Back Housing — 3D-printed enclosure mounting to the MIP frame's instrument cutout
- PCB & Controller — ESP32 driving the servo from the X-Plane turn-rate dataref
- Lighting — backlighting for night/IFR panel illumination
X-Plane Integration
sim/cockpit2/gauges/indicators/turn_rate_roll_deg_pilot
The miniature aircraft banks ±60°, as the Skyhawk's does. In the Cessna 172 (six-pack) Blueprint it's a hobby servo on GPIO 13 with a 120° sweep, centred at 60°.
Status
Planning — design not yet started.