http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063 Online perspective from the editors of "AOPA Pilot". Wed, 22 May 2013 00:22:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063&cpage=1#comment-96070 Dave Mon, 24 May 2010 13:38:45 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063#comment-96070 Dave’s so right.
A solid-state AHRS is orders of magnitude more reliable than the vacuum systems they replace, and synthetic vision provides situational awareness superior to any moving map, and ground proximity warnings seem primitive by comparison. These tools will quickly become standard, and they’ll make flying safer and, yes, more enjoyable in the future!

]]> http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063&cpage=1#comment-96068 David Mon, 24 May 2010 06:41:08 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063#comment-96068 It seems like new technology in any field meets resistance from the “old school” crowd who learned it a certain way and feels like any change is uncomfortable. The first two posts seem to fit this mold. It surprises me that many responses to “glass panels” appear to comment on there downsides. As an instrumented rated pilot that learned on steam gauges, I can’t help but laugh at how “under powered” the old needle, ball, and airspeed was. For example, when being vectored on an approach in IMC, where the heck am I? What would happen if I lose radio contact at that moment? Sure, I can follow my procedures, but there is a lot of situational awareness on that GPS screen. It always surprised me that my car was better equipped then the aircraft that I launched into IMC. Sure, needles get the job done and done well…but compared to the situational awareness and information at your fingertips with glass, it’s only a matter of time before folks will laugh when they recall the primitive way these legacy aircraft were equipped.

]]> http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063&cpage=1#comment-96062 Alessandra St.John Sat, 22 May 2010 16:23:55 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063#comment-96062 Great technology – but it’s turning flying into a video game. Instead of the pilot being required to exercise their own skills to safely fly an airplane, this will breed even more dependance and complacency on the instrument, both of which will easily get a pilot killed.

]]> http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063&cpage=1#comment-96019 Ralph Edmonds Mon, 17 May 2010 23:01:15 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/blog/?p=1063#comment-96019 As an “old school” instrument pilot, I admire the technology in this panel. But I can’t help but think pilots who learn to fly in glass cockpits will be lost — literally and figuratively — if and when their magic panels ever go dark. I’m glad I’ll have the old “needle, ball, and airspeed” to rely on whenever the attitude indicator fails. No technology is perfect . . .

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