Air Temperature | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

Skip to main content

• Portals
  • 1. Operational Issues
       1. Air Ground Communication
       2. Airspace Infringement
       3. Wildlife Strike
       4. Controlled Flight Into Terrain
       5. Fire Smoke and Fumes
       6. Ground Operations
       7. Airworthiness
       8. Level Bust
       9. Loss of Control
       10. Loss of Separation
       11. Runway Excursion
       12. Runway Incursion
       13. Wake Vortex Turbulence
       14. Weather
       15. Emergency and Contingency
       16. Unmanned Aerial Systems
    2. Human Performance
       1. Human Behaviour
       2. Design Philosophy
       3. Human Performance Modelling
       4. Organisation and Human Performance
       5. Human Factors Training
       6. Aeromedical
       7. OGHFA
    3. Enhancing Safety
       1. Cabin Safety
       2. Flight Technical
       3. Safety Management
       4. Safety Nets
       5. Theory of Flight
       6. Safety Culture
       7. Just Culture
       8. ICAO ADREP
       9. CAST Safety Enhancements
       10. Accident Investigation
       11. Helicopter Safety
       12. SM ICG Safety Management Products
    4. Safety Regulations
       1. Rules
       2. Certification
       3. Personnel Licensing
       4. Monitoring & Oversight
       5. Single European Sky
       6. ESARRs
       7. Human Error in Aviation and Legal Process
• Browsers
  • 1. Accidents and incidents
    2. Aircraft types
    3. Airports
    4. ICAO Member States and Related Territories
    5. Aircraft operators
    6. Bookshelf
• Themes
  • 1. CAST Safety Enhancements
    2. Single European Sky
    3. General Aviation
    4. Helicopter Safety
• Tutorials
  • 1. SKYclips (new)
    2. HF Integration Toolkit
    3. Laying the foundations of a safe flight
    4. Systems Thinking for Safety
    5. AllClear?
    6. Airspace Infringement Prevention
    7. Stabilised Approach Awareness Toolkit for ATC
    8. Flight Deck Procedures (A Guide for Controllers)
    9. Level Bust Toolkit
    10. TCAS Awareness
    11. Safety and Justice Toolkit
    12. SAM toolkit
    13. ASSTM
    14. DEI in Aviation Toolkit
• Courses
• Events
  • 1. Annual Safety Forums
    2. EUROCONTROL safety webinars
    3. Conferences
• Publications

You are here

Home » Portals » Operational Issues » Weather Air Temperature Air Temperature Article Information Category: Weather Content source: SKYbrary Content control: SKYbrary

The temperature of the air outside an aircraft is measured and indicated within the cockpit or used, together with outputs from the Pitot Static System, as an input to aircraft equipment, e.g. Air Data Computer (ADC).

Outside Air Temperature (OAT)

The ambient temperature measured outside an aircraft is known as the Outside Air Temperature (OAT) or Static Air Temperature (SAT). The sensor which detects OAT must be carefully sited to ensure that airflow over it does not affect the indicated temperature.

Total Air Temperature (TAT)

If temperature is measured by means of a sensor positioned in the airflow, kinetic heating will result, raising the temperature measured above the OAT. The temperature measured in this way is known as the Total Air Temperature (TAT) and is used in ADCs to calculate True Airspeed (TAS). Careful design and siting of the TAT probe is necessary to ensure accurate measurement of TAT.

Related Articles

• Pitot Static System
• True Airspeed

Categories Weather, Atmosphere

Feedback

SKYbrary Partners:

Safety knowledge contributed by:

Join SKYbrary

If you wish to contribute or participate in the discussions about articles you are invited to join SKYbrary as a registered user

Contact us

Message to the Editor

About SKYbrary

What is SKYbrary

Copyright © SKYbrary Aviation Safety, 2021-2025. All rights reserved.

• Disclaimer
• SKYbrary privacy policy
• Licence agreement and Code of conduct