Ive been flying 45 yrs. Owned 6 single engine planes small to large. Simple to complex.
I have many hours ifr in benign conditions way before gps existed and with no auto and with no problems at all. All approaches were vor or ils approaches.
I ask because Im looking to upgrade to a newer RV14 and they all have glass cockpits.
Ive never even used one. Call it my last hurrah.
Your thoughts? I respect and appreciate all responses.
If you know what you're doing on steam and you take the time to learn glass properly (see
@midlifeflyer's post), you should have a very easy transition if you're reasonably comfortable with technology in general, and it shouldn't be too hard even if you're not a tech-head, it might just take a little time.
FWIW, I learned in /U and /A, joined a flying club where I got familiar with the GNS 430, and when I transitioned to glass it took about 45 minutes because the G1000 worked just like the 430.
IMO, being a good pilot is all about making good decisions. Glass, GPS, ADS-B, etc tends to give you more information, and if you use the extra information correctly and know where to look for it, having the extra information can help you make better decisions.
One question for the old school analog old guy-
do these systems wear out or become functionally
obsolete? or anything along those lines?
They don't wear out the way analog stuff does. You don't have to send your PFD away to get its gyros overhauled (there are none) and you don't have to replace your vacuum pump or filters or any of that other stuff, so it tends to be MUCH lower maintenance.
That said, everything breaks. Luckily, at least with Garmin, they tend to do flat-rate repairs that are at least somewhat reasonably priced.
The main drawback in terms of obsolescence is limited to the certified world, where the glass is part of the type certificate and software updates have to be approved by the aircraft manufacturer, who has zero motive to do so. You won't have this problem in the 14.
one of my pet peeves is that we all seem to be getting
lazier and wimpier. if thats a word.
The Tennessee fly girl died cause she couldnt fly by hand!
Rare incident but it happens.
With glass, it is entirely up to you whether you will let your skills deteriorate to the level the system allows, or whether you will keep your skills up and use the glass to make you even safer. The glass does not make you lazier and wimpier, it just lets those who do allow themselves to get lazy/wimpy to survive longer.
Ive flown manually cross country in ifr and no gps.
No wing leveler. No big deal. Tiring? yes but.
When I was young, cars had no AC, no cruise, no power steering,
most had stick shifts, etc. Somehow we got to where we were going.
Most of the time. Plenty of survivor bias here. We don't really know how many accidents had fatigue as a contributing factor, but it's definitely nonzero.
But I do not like the speed tape.
I do not like it in the pattern,
I do not like it in the air.
I do not like it on final,
I do not like it anywhere.
I'm always over-correcting. I wish there was GI-275 analog airspeed indicator.
IMO, glass cockpit speed tapes are backwards. If the low numbers are on top and the high numbers below, then you could point your nose towards the number you're trying to get to and it'd work. I read somewhere that the very first glass cockpit, which I think was in a Gulfstream around 1984 or so, had the tape this way, and for some reason it was reversed in all subsequent glass cockpits.
Sure, any tech does. Remember LORAN and VOR/DME based RNAV? Plus there are variation even without obselescence. But like analog, there are commonalities. You can look at almost any PFD from any company and the basic 6-pack emulation is pretty much the same.
I think the real question was "Am I going to have to pull this out and replace it every 5 years like all my other gadgets?"
To that, the answer is no. Generally, our computers, tablets, and smartphones become victims of "feature-itis" and as more and more features are loaded into the OS, it gets slower and slower, requiring newer hardware to compensate. In the avionics world, they stop software feature updates fairly quickly. My GTN hasn't had any new features since maybe 2018, and thus it's still just as fast an usable as it was when I had it installed. Since it has very few moving parts (two buttons and two knobs), I expect it will last a looooong time. Same with the GI275, and any other solid-state glass device.
But since I fly airplanes with multiple types of glass and analog, I suspect owners and those who fly with the same system all the time will adapt faster.