JP256 wrote:Maybe we should just go back to the "good old days" when you didn't have to have any instruments in the cockpit. Who needs an airspeed indicator? Or a tachometer? Real pilots should be able to feel the wing and hear the engine well enough to know it's still running. (To this day, some instructors will cover up these gauges and make their students to fly without them to reinforce these concepts.)
Come to think of it, those oil pressure and oil temperature gauges distract us from looking outside. It's not like you're going to be able to do anything to repair your engine while you're flying anyway, so why distract the pilot with them? And why should a VFR pilot have an attitude indicator or a directional gyro? They should be looking outside, not locking in on one instrument in the cockpit.
When autopilots first came along, I read dozens of articles in the trade press about how those darn autopilots were going to kill us all by eroding our flying skills. (No mention during this furor that autopilots actually allowed the pilot to spend more time looking out the windshield for "see and avoid"...) When LORAN and GPS came along, we began hearing tales about the culture of the "magenta line" and how it was going to kill off a whole generation of pilots who would no longer know how to navigate or fly the plane, and would instead be heads down in the cockpit, mesmerized by the pretty movies playing on their moving maps...
But history has shown us that every single one of those issues can be (and should be) resolved through properly focused training. And I believe that the same is true for ADS-B IN displays. Used properly – as just another cockpit aid to assist with situational awareness – ADS-B IN can be a very good thing. If the pilot becomes fixated on the display to the point where it distracts from their many other tasks, it could be a bad thing. But that's true of chasing the airspeed, VSI, or VOR needles as well. I've known pilots to become so fixated on reading their maps that they failed to notice a simulated engine failure in a helicopter... Perhaps the "all in one" glass panels cause the pilot to initially spend more time looking at the display, as he or she learns to interpret a whole new set of instruments in a new format, but again, just like the other things I've mentioned, that's a training issue, and easily overcome.
ADS-B IN traffic displays are just another instrument to add to your scan. For me, after several years of using it (I was an early adopter) it's already become second nature to me. If I see yellow or red indicators (which also come with a "voice alert" warning), I may focus on the display for second or two to figure out where to look outside for the aircraft my visual scan already failed to pickup (a key point!)... But as a general rule, I spend no more time glancing at the traffic display than I devote to the DG or AI during my scan. Your mileage may vary, and it may take you less or more time than it took me, but I'm confident that seeking out some training (even if it's "informal" training from someone who has been using it for a while) will help tremendously in turning that traffic display into a useful tool, without causing the sky to fall, or the world to come to an end... One flight – especially without having any instruction or practice in using the traffic display – is WAY too soon to be giving up on a technology that can be pretty helpful when you're used to it.
Very well said Jim!
Kurt
