What Kind of New Instruments are on Your Wish List?

Windpane

Windpane

Pre-Flight
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Sep 21, 2019
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Windpane
I've come across one that spots the lightning locations and another that detects planes. I don't know their names, but I'd like to know.

Are there a lot of instruments that would fill in all of the possible gaps in the whole flight process?

Is the rule if it doesn't fit your panel, then you can't use it? Or can you expand instrument faces off of the panel somehow?
 
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Read those FAA books someone recommended. The minimum instruments needed for a flight are technically zero, the minimum the FAA requires is only slightly above that.

The airplane doesn’t care what instruments are aboard. A compass and a watch will handle navigation duties just fine.
 
I have a $200/yr app on my iPad that shows lighting strikes (delayed by a few minutes) and other airplanes (that have ADS-B out). In a pinch, I could shoot a GPS approach with said app, too.

My actual plane has a handful of pitot-static instruments, and is about to get a digital HSI and AI (Garmin G5s). I have a touch-screen GPS and an autopilot that will follow whatever route I put into it and follow a glideslope. I was on aircraft spruce yesterday out of boredom looking at avionics and couldn’t find anything else that I wanted in my cockpit.

I know I am turning into an old guy, but 20 years ago I had to do my cross countries as a student pilot with a sectional chart and paper navlog....the amount of informational available now in the cockpit is astounding and I can’t imagine what I will have access to in another 20 years.
 
Yeap, paper maps, compass, timer...'cause if all else fails,...
 
Windpane said:
I've come across one that spots the lighting locations and another that detects planes. I don't know their names, but I'd like to know.

Are there a lot of instruments that would fill in all of the possible gaps in the whole flight process?

Is the rule if it doesn't fit your panel, then you can't use it? Or can you expand instrument faces off of the panel somehow?
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In your original post, you described yourself as imaginative, inventive, etc. So, start studying the FAA books - they have almost all the answers to your questions. Come here for clarification.....Please don’t use POA thinking it’s the shortcut to learning.
 
Windpane said:
I've come across one that spots the lighting locations ....
Click to expand...

I just look for where the bulbs and LEDs are physically on the airplane. That's usually where the lights are located... ? Why would you need an instrument to find lights?
 
murphey said:
Flux capacitor.
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The flux capacitor is definitely cool, but it's really more of a power supply rather than an instrument.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
Dual engine planes are just a lot more powerful and faster, eh...without trying to overload it with too many seats and cargo space. I bet with two engines you can add to the durability of the overall body structure to handle more g forces in case of encounters with the weather.
 
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