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Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
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Glass big learning curve?
Our CAP unit is going to be receiving a new C-182 with a glass
cockpit. In order to give us a taste of it a Cirrus owner came to our CAP meeting and showed us his wonderful aircraft (not the same PDF/MFD but close). I've heard from many sources that it takes about 10 hours to transition. In fact a local FBO has a brand new C-182 (rents for about $200/hr) and requires 15 hours. Although I didn't fly the Cirrus, I sat in the aircraft while the owner spoke with someone else. He said we could push any buttons we wanted to. So, I tried to think of all the things I could normally do on an IFR flight. Amazingly, I had no problems with any of the operations. The display is easy for me because my generation grew up flying flight simulators that use the exact same display. The only hard part is figuring out the 430s (which I've done before). So, I'm wondering if all this talk about a long transition time is mostly for the generation that didn't grow up with computers. Just thinking about the time it takes some people (not necessarily based on age) to get familiar with their computer vs. others, I'm wondering if its the same thing. Perhaps I'm being naive but I felt that I could fly behind that panel today. Has anyone on this list had experience with such a transition? -Sammy J. |
#2
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Glass big learning curve?
Perhaps I'm being naive but I felt
that I could fly behind that panel today. The hardest part, at least with the Garmins and the glass I've flown, is undoing an error. Mostly, you can't back up. You end up in an unfamiliar place, and have to re-dial everything in again. Jose -- Humans are pack animals. Above all things, they have a deep need to follow something, be it a leader, a creed, or a mob. Whosoever fully understands this holds the world in his hands. for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
#3
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Glass big learning curve?
wrote in message ups.com... Has anyone on this list had experience with such a transition? Not directly, but the place I fly has several glass rentals and those planes seem to stay busy. All of their new planes for the last two or three years have been glass, and they wouldn't be adding them to the flight line if folks weren't renting them. For insurance and hourly cost reasons I don't fly them, but I believe the transition involves an evening or two of "glass" ground school and a couple hours in the air with an instructor. Perhaps a bit more instruction would be in order if you were planning some hard IFR. I just don't understand why folks fly away in $250,000 rentals when you can't generally buy over $100,000 renter's insurance. I fly cheap planes, and they don't have glass except for the round bits over the steam guages. Vaughn |
#4
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Glass big learning curve?
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#5
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Glass big learning curve?
it does not take 15 or even 10 hours in the air.
Do the ground School first, get the Garmin $6 CD that you can put on your computer. Get Max Trescott's book (and I see now he has a training CD based on his book). Do the ground school. Learn the pages, Learn what is where. If you are familiar with a Garmin 430/530 you are half way there. Learn the failure and back up modes, know this from the computer before you even step to the airplane. Most FBOs are able to run the G1000 package with ground power back up and not running the engine at a much reduced rate, with two pilots in the seats and the CFI standing in the door. BT wrote in message ups.com... Our CAP unit is going to be receiving a new C-182 with a glass cockpit. In order to give us a taste of it a Cirrus owner came to our CAP meeting and showed us his wonderful aircraft (not the same PDF/MFD but close). I've heard from many sources that it takes about 10 hours to transition. In fact a local FBO has a brand new C-182 (rents for about $200/hr) and requires 15 hours. Although I didn't fly the Cirrus, I sat in the aircraft while the owner spoke with someone else. He said we could push any buttons we wanted to. So, I tried to think of all the things I could normally do on an IFR flight. Amazingly, I had no problems with any of the operations. The display is easy for me because my generation grew up flying flight simulators that use the exact same display. The only hard part is figuring out the 430s (which I've done before). So, I'm wondering if all this talk about a long transition time is mostly for the generation that didn't grow up with computers. Just thinking about the time it takes some people (not necessarily based on age) to get familiar with their computer vs. others, I'm wondering if its the same thing. Perhaps I'm being naive but I felt that I could fly behind that panel today. Has anyone on this list had experience with such a transition? -Sammy J. |
#6
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Glass big learning curve?
Using the altimeter in the glass cockpit is a new skill for holding
altitude in IMC or under the hood. The rest of the guages seemed to go quickly, but they all took some getting used to. To really KNOW that complicated panel (I mean every function and all the idiosyncracies) would take several hundred hours. To just fly it VFR all you need to learn new is how to tune the radios. |
#8
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Glass big learning curve?
Using the altimeter in the glass cockpit is a new skill for holding
altitude in IMC or under the hood. The rest of the guages seemed to go quickly, but they all took some getting used to. To really KNOW that complicated panel (I mean every function and all the idiosyncracies) would take several hundred hours. To just fly it VFR all you need to learn new is how to tune the radios. I don't currently fly, haven't in a long time, and was a student when I did; so I had started to wonder whether it was just me, or whether others also found the altimeters in the some of the glass panels to be non-intuitive. I really thought that the airspeed indicators were non-intuitive as well, but that seemed far less problematic--at least for VMC. At the moment, I can't quite decide whether the fact that it is not-just-me is better or worse. However, I can't quite get used to the idea that the numbers move, instead of the needles, and that the result seems to require the user/pilot to interpret the data a digital instead of analog. Peter Just my $0.02 |
#9
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Glass big learning curve?
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#10
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Glass big learning curve?
I don't currently fly, haven't in a long time, and was a student when I did;
so I had started to wonder whether it was just me, or whether others also found the altimeters in the some of the glass panels to be non-intuitive. I really thought that the airspeed indicators were non-intuitive as well, but that seemed far less problematic--at least for VMC. I've flown glass once, and I found the gauges to be non-intuitive and hard to use. For one thing, they are of different sizes, so one can't at a glance see what fraction of "full" you are at, like you can with a round airspeed gauge. I much prefer a round gauge. Jose -- Humans are pack animals. Above all things, they have a deep need to follow something, be it a leader, a creed, or a mob. Whosoever fully understands this holds the world in his hands. for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
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