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Why student pilots should start with round dials, not glass cockpits.
When a prospective pilot walks into our flight school at Sporty’s, one of the most common questions we hear is, “Should I learn to fly with steam gauges or a glass cockpit?” Like most questions in life, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but the prevailing wisdom suggests it’s better to start on steam and transition to glass than vice versa. (www.planeandpilotmag.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I am not a pilot, however, my father taught a lot to me about flying including having stick time since I was 6 months old. He flew for Pan Am, starting in a Boeing B-377 after flying B-17 and B-24 in WW2. He loved anything with wings. He was "lucky" enough to be certified on both L1011 and 747 as check engineer, but loved to take out small planes for the sheer joy of just flying. He built a Taylorcraft, which at 5 years old, I standing on the brake so he could swing the prop. we were doing test runs on the grass field at Edwards on LI which were boring so I pulled back on the stick - my first take-off. Not long after I tried to emulate a WW2 pilot by peeling off and heading down. Flying was never boring for him when I was in the cockpit. But the one thing he instilled in me was to feel the plane and conditions, and to always be prepared for anything because it could and would happen.
Back in the day when the Piper J3 (Cub) was the trainer du jour, it was needle, ball, and airspeed. That system produced some very good pilots with a vehicle that was cheaper than a glider. I remember making three straight touch and goes. on a 3500 ft. runway without ever changing a heading. A nice head wind was all one needed to do that in a Cub.
Makes me remember an old ‘I Learned About Flying From That’ column in Flying magazine, in which someone flying a Cub along the Massachusetts coast in an increasing westerly, barely made it back upwind into the Plum Island airport.
Excellent article!
I agree with Mike Mohle. I’ve had my private 40 years. Now flying gliders. A person just starting should learn the basics of flying with gliders then advance.
O.K. Ancient Aero fanatic here. (VN Huey Crew-Chief, Computer Tech both Apollo and Skylab programs NASA, and author of flight-related software that I can plausibly deny even knowing about) Who feels compelled to weight in...
First, let’s set some ground rules. When it comes to aviation training do NOT offer me an either-or proposition. I cannot tell you how many times during Apollo I heard the phrase, "You have to do both, machine rate the man AND man rate the machine." Round dials are the best way to teach some basic principles and to emphasize what the minimum information needed is to actually maintain control.
However, Glass cockpit info is delivered by SOFTWARE! Just start out by delivering key data with, oh say six, round dials. Then with the help of actual flight training educators define how the >display< grows to support more and more complex flight functions.
First, let’s set some ground rules. When it comes to aviation training do NOT offer me an either-or proposition. I cannot tell you how many times during Apollo I heard the phrase, "You have to do both, machine rate the man AND man rate the machine." Round dials are the best way to teach some basic principles and to emphasize what the minimum information needed is to actually maintain control.
However, Glass cockpit info is delivered by SOFTWARE! Just start out by delivering key data with, oh say six, round dials. Then with the help of actual flight training educators define how the >display< grows to support more and more complex flight functions.
My AFS glass panel has the option to display steam gauges, as I assume other brands do too. Practice with both!!