Now you can not only look, but touch as well. These new avionics are pretty sweet, but don't forget to look outside once & a while.

http://clearontop.com/2011/03/24/aspen-avidyne-garmin-oh-my/

but don't forget to look outside once & a while.

Exactly! I once got invited to ride along in a local pilots Cherokee 235, so he could "play" with his new GNS install and shoot some ILS approaches at the local class C airport next door. I was shocked at what i experienced and i never flew with him again. I heard later that he was known for not looking outside the aircraft and was deemed unsafe by others i knew and respected on field. I was taught and still religiously incorporate a scan into my flying.

I can only imagine a computer that absorbs so much time of the pilot to plug in data is going to make this trend of ignoring the scan even worse. Head down in the cockpit, is likened to texting while driving. At least in the car you can most likely sue a person for the damage caused by their negligence. However, When an airplane clips you in the pattern and sends you to your death, I doubt the outcome will be pretty and there will be no one attributing distracted flying to the accident.

I hope that the industry will incorporate some sort of reminder in the training of these new GPS/Comm units.

On the light side of things this piece of glASS gets my vote. However, the GPS buyers have it a little easier becaue it probably cost them less and it comes with an instruction manual.

lownslow79 wrote:

but don't forget to look outside once & a while.

Exactly! I once got invited to ride along in a local pilots Cherokee 235, so he could "play" with his new GNS install and shoot some ILS approaches at the local class C airport next door. I was shocked at what i experienced and i never flew with him again. I heard later that he was known for not looking outside the aircraft and was deemed unsafe by others i knew and respected on field. I was taught and still religiously incorporate a scan into my flying.

I can only imagine a computer that absorbs so much time of the pilot to plug in data is going to make this trend of ignoring the scan even worse. Head down in the cockpit, is likened to texting while driving. At least in the car you can most likely sue a person for the damage caused by their negligence. However, When an airplane clips you in the pattern and sends you to your death, I doubt the outcome will be pretty and there will be no one attributing distracted flying to the accident.

I hope that the industry will incorporate some sort of reminder in the training of these new GPS/Comm units.

I'm confused, A pilot gets new IFR gear (For flying in instrument conditions). He then goes out the safe way (with a safety pilot) in Radar controlled airspace to learn to use it. Yet somehow you think he should be looking outside like he was in a cub?
Isn't that the purpose of the safety pilot?
Have you flown a G1000 in a Cessna? Of how about my favorite the Avidyne in a Cirrus? or the Proline in a King air? There is a lot of heads down time till you learn them. However, situational awareness in the clouds cannot be beat. I'm all for new technology.
If your VFR yeah look out the window, IFR not so much.

670x wrote:

lownslow79 wrote:

but don't forget to look outside once & a while.

Exactly! I once got invited to ride along in a local pilots Cherokee 235, so he could "play" with his new GNS install and shoot some ILS approaches at the local class C airport next door. I was shocked at what i experienced and i never flew with him again. I heard later that he was known for not looking outside the aircraft and was deemed unsafe by others i knew and respected on field. I was taught and still religiously incorporate a scan into my flying.

I can only imagine a computer that absorbs so much time of the pilot to plug in data is going to make this trend of ignoring the scan even worse. Head down in the cockpit, is likened to texting while driving. At least in the car you can most likely sue a person for the damage caused by their negligence. However, When an airplane clips you in the pattern and sends you to your death, I doubt the outcome will be pretty and there will be no one attributing distracted flying to the accident.

I hope that the industry will incorporate some sort of reminder in the training of these new GPS/Comm units.

I'm confused, A pilot gets new IFR gear (For flying in instrument conditions). He then goes out the safe way (with a safety pilot) in Radar controlled airspace to learn to use it. Yet somehow you think he should be looking outside like he was in a cub?
Isn't that the purpose of the safety pilot?
Have you flown a G1000 in a Cessna? Of how about my favorite the Avidyne in a Cirrus? or the Proline in a King air? There is a lot of heads down time till you learn them. However, situational awareness in the clouds cannot be beat. I'm all for new technology.
If your VFR yeah look out the window, IFR not so much.

I was actually not invited along for the purpose of being a safety pilot. Just to ride along. There is no doubt in IFR conditions it has to be a great asset. However my illustration from the story that i wanted to bring home is that, more and more heads down time to distract from flying the actual airplane. This guy was flying VFR and he was flying the airplane clearly distracted. he was not even maintaining altitude. Even as we left class C airspace to go to our home airport, he was essentially flying blind. Its just bad practice in my opinion to be that way in VFR airspace.

I had a guy on a VFR check out flight start fumbling with the panels, I asked him what he was doing, he said he wanted to know if we were going to clear that ridge ahead of us...he even points to the ridge. I hit the duplicate display button and told him if he can't tell me if we are going to clear without looking at the panel then we should just head back right now and conclude the checkout.

In IMC (note I didn't say IFR) the glass is nice, however it does breed some weird habits in some people.

lownslow79 wrote:On the light side of things this piece of glASS gets my vote. However, the GPS buyers have it a little easier becaue it probably cost them less and it comes with an instruction manual.

Kind of reminds me of this joke I heard a couple days ago.......

Husband comes home from work and his wife is watching a cooking show on the Food Network.........

Husband: "Why are you watching that show? You don't know how to cook!"

Wife: "Well, you watch porn!"