to HSI or not to HSI

Once one accepts the fact that all sensing is "normal", and flies
headings as indicated by the VOR head, instead of the more difficult
methd of flying left and right needles, back course localizer flying
is no more difficult than "ordinary" course tracking.

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 21:07:48 -0500, "Richard Kaplan"
wrote:


"Michael" wrote in message
. com...

somehting like this not done - because this is how we've always done
it (and because the FAA would make such a modification
cost-prohibitive).

I have such a switch on my airplane -- it is part of my Cessna 400B
autopilot control head. Just flip the switch and the CDI needle reverses
its orientation.

I agree completely that this makes a back course approach easier to fly even
though "training" should be able to solve the problem otherwise.

Let me give another example to support your point. One of the most
challenging situations I occasionally try in my simulator is a demonstration
of reversed ailerons not caught by a pilot on preflight. In theory, once
the pilot realizes what happened, there is no emergency at all -- the
airplane is perfectly controllable. In reality, almost all pilots find this
to be an extremely difficult scenario, and in fact it seems as if the
higher-time the pilot the harder it is to reverse one's thinking and provide
reverse aileron input. The same is likely true when flying a localizer
back-course approach; we are all so used to "normal" sensing on a CDI needle
that our responses become so ingrained/automatic as to make it much harder
to reverse this action on rare back-course approach.

--------------------
Richard Kaplan

www.flyimc.com


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