While complex to learn, having huge glass navigation systems sitting in front of you in a single engine plane seems so foreign to me.
I did my instrument ride in a C-172 and my commercial in a PA-44.
During both of those checkrides, I ended up having to shoot ILS approaches to minimums, in turbulent IFR conditions, with nothing but "steam gauges". The fanciest thing in the plane was probably the HSI.
On the instrument ride, I had to shoot an NDB approach to minimums in actual. That was a good time.
I assume planes don't even come with NDBs anymore. I used to tune into AM radio on them just to have something to listen to to pass the time.
I used the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator recently and loaded up the C-172. It just stared at the screen for a minute, realizing I don't know how to use a G1000 so I couldn't fly it. I mean, I could start it up and get it off the ground, but for IFR navigation? No clue. Lots of buttons and fancy graphics.
The march of progress.
After about 10 or so hours, you'll start finding so many small things that make life infinitely easier for single-pilot ops that it's ridiculous we can do x or y with so little effort.
Running lean of peak, having a TOD, programming in our steps, hitting the approach button and just letting the plane fly is black magic at times. There's no going back for me at this rate, especially when I just want to go places. I've got a single-seat Yak for when I truly want to "fly"!
- The same G1000 (NXi)
- A composite body
- Jet-fuel burning engines adapted from recent Mercedes diesels
- Computer control of that engine through one knob instead of managing the throttle/mixture/prop separately like cavemen
- Crash testing, like impact absorbing seat structure and separately enclosed fuel tank modules that are unlikely to rupture instead of just filling the wing.
But "the same" is a pretty nice house in most of the country (~$600k) so everything is hand-built, so costs are high, demand is kept low. Commercial students trying to get their 1500hrs mostly just need the lowest cost, not the nicest or safest.
Another big area of innovation and also lower costs is in experimentals and/or light-sport. LSAs should be getting a lot more capable soon with MOSAIC [2]
[1]: https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/private-owners/aircraft/d... [2]: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2023/july/25/mo...
- tiller instead of wheel (my brain could not)
- no bathroom (bucket available)
- no furling foresail (got to change to a storm jib in strong winds)
- no auto locking winch
- no auto pilot
- no depth sensor
- no gps/screen
- no fuel gauge
- no clutches (only a couple of jam cleats that didn't work really well)
- retractable engine (so we had to lower it/pull it up manually, was fun to use it to stabilize the boat a bit when winds were strong)
Boat was also a bit smaller 31' vs 34'. I'd still take my course on that boat if I had to redo it, it was a deeper learning experience.
The HSI is probably the most intuitive navigation instrument for me. You point the picture of the plane to the heading you want to fly into or away from the radio beacon, and it tells you whether you need to fly left or right in order to intercept the correct course.
For fun, I fly the Lockheed Super Constellation^1 in my flight simulator (FlightGear; it's FOSS) in CAT2 or even CAT3 weather mode, and try to fly from one airport to another using only the 'steam gauge' instruments and my memory of the radio navigation frequencies. Recently I've been hand-flying without the autopilot as well. I'm the pilot, navigator, radio man and flight engineer for the quad R-3350 engines all in one seat. There's something amazingly satisfying about seeing the ALSF lights appear through the jet-black haze seconds before a smooth touchdown, and I'm proud to say that I've only crashed into hills a few times!
^1: ...which predates glass cockpit instruments in airliners by about half a century
I think in regards to safety, screens have the upper hand 99% of the time however...
a) the 1:1 of screen X to screen Y doesn't exist, I (think) you have to pretty much learn the new system
b) there's a certain je ne se quais to instruments
c) the school that has the G1000 needs a G1000 trainer as well as an IFR trainer (though I guess that's fine because then you have experience in both)
d) too much screens may not be the best - the G600 has touchscreens now
There's no hard requirement to learn one versus the other. If you're a new student today and looking to go to one of the big-boy airlines you'll probably never need to fly a 6-pack if the school you pick has G1000's.
I've done a bunch of ULM test flights at LEIR and LEMT, and I've always been curious about getting at least an ULM license...
I went to colllege to become an airline pilot, and I was shocked that I ended up having to fly an NDB approach in actual conditions to minimums. You just don't see that anymore.
And the tolerances on the checkride is that you can only deviate from the course by a certain number of degrees.
I vividly remember staring at the ADF with the needle swinging wildly left to right as we were tossed around thinking "surely I can't get failed for turbulence"?
My check pilot was a 5'2" WWII vet that needed a booster seat and was notorious for opening his damn door on final approach (which he did to me, luckily I was prepared).
Isn't that a good strategy for when someone thinks they'll be in a crash so it doesn't jam closed? Congrats on passing despite that!
Edit: I mean in a simulator. When I'm flying IRL, a GPS is really handy :')
The one thing I'd be a bit wary about here is heat making that paper unreadable. I've seen a bunch of kitchens intend to run thermal printers in kitchens, but had to switch to impact printers because how quickly the paper would turn dark in the ambient heat in the kitchen, plus the heat lamps on expo station.
Thankfully the author isn't relying on this for anything absolutely critical (also aviate, then navigate anyways) but I'd wonder if on a sunny day without any clouds there, how quickly that paper would degrade.
[1] https://boards.greenhouse.io/touchbistro/jobs/5058791003
https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-...
So environmental impact isn't high on their list already, and this BPA issue is very likely going to be completely ignored by anyone in that field.
The first few months of 2020 were quite busy: they gave us blue receipts, covid, and brexit.
I wanted to buy a thermal printer myself but couldn't find a definitive answer or evidence of the BPA part being a risk. I got one that uses BPS instead - other papers also raised concerns about this, but again I couldn't find direct evidence of health issues associated with the handling of till receipts.
I decided as the receipt printer will be used infrequently and I have been handling till receipts for the last 4 decades I wouldn't worry about it. BPA is also present in food cans and plastic bottles - the link you sent states the concentrations are higher in receipts - but at the same time I don't intend on eating the receipts or rubbing them into my skin.
Generally I'm quite cautious about chemicals in everyday life, I try and reduce the amount in our house using natural products for cleaning for example.
At the same time we're constantly surrounded by toxins so I often find myself having to do this sort of rationalisation to avoid worrying about seemingly everything all the time.
And, of course, as you said, aviate navigate communicate first :)
Thanks!
Had to dispute with credit card company over that one. Wasn't fun.
Worth looking at Figure 3 showing how different samples of thermal paper have vastly difference reactions to high temperatures.
Once had a set of Aliexpress plastic water carriers take 6 months to arrive to me during COVID and it when it arrived, it seemed like the plasticizers from the carriers (or the factory?) severely degraded the thermal shipping label.
A lot of manufacturers make the same printer in thermal transfer or direct thermal models.
As you reach each waypoint, you turn a knob and roll the next waypoint into the window. It should work just great with your receipt printer and your not limited to the length of the A pillar in your plane.
I know them from the Rally Dakar, I think up to recently they used them, I think they are super cool; great shout :)
I'd wanna grab a friend w/ a 3D printer to make one because I kind of like the flexibility of sellotape at the moment, especially the roll chart mount into the airframe
It works well as long as you never miss a direction, then it gets off.
It'd be horrible with the variability in land speed from the same engine speed, but maybe that'd be part of the "fun" trying it for an airplane.
https://www.sealcoveautomuseum.org/collection-test/jones-liv...
Prior to phones, I would just scrawl my notes onto a sheet of A5 and tape it to the top of the tank. It didn't work well when it was raining.
Just a small script I wrote a few days ago, but I had 2 or 3 friends publish some blogs online and I got hella jelly --- so here's my submission, so at least I can say I made something and post it.
Hopefully you like both planes and tech and very hopefully you find this an okay read :)
Any spelling mistakes, bugs, issues, ethics, please do tell me about!
Sorry if it looks rushed -- night is coming upon us and I need to take the dog out!
Good weekend!
It's a generic brand one -- but on eBay I've see some for cheap; maybe (like someone pointed out) not that cheap (sorry if title was misleading, not my intention at all)
My recommendation? buy it locally or just ask a business if they are getting rid of one (that was how I got lucky)
Sorry I can't help much more
I did worry at one point, but it's surprisingly sturdy.
If it does fall --- no worries! I have my original (kneeboard) copy to go off
Thanks for the question!
Does anybody know where this phenomenon comes from? This isn't the first time I'm seeing this, and I don't know why anybody ever thought that it was a good idea.
Have a nice weekend :)
Have another look, its more like 50 nowadays, thanks to the new ones having proprietary paper with chip.
Lemme research a bit what the export format is!
I agree -- it's artistic than anything, but is cool!
Thanks for popping by :)
Your kneeboard “cargo pants of the air” are legit, and turning the cockpit’s windshield pillar into prime real estate for receipt prints? Genius move.
Your journey from regex to JSON wizardry is like a flight plan through the tech skies.
Keep soaring, my friend!
I would have loved this when I was flying still. Such memories with the kneeboard and nav logs!
Fun fact: I left my plotter and E6B in my black car in TX during cross-country training and came back to both melted! I was broke and 18 so figured I would wing it, but it surely made my calculations error biased by some amount of yards because I was broke and not wanting to buy a new one!
Great story! Glad it coulda been've use :)
Very cool project!