Single most unimportant instrument.

poadeleted21

poadeleted21

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
12,332
The Wx500 in my plane, I'm VFR only and all it does is give false positives.

I did see a panel mounted apparatus that contained the alphabet and allowed you to select the current ATIS. Seemed useless to me.

I expect to hear about your LORAN and ADF. :rofl:
 
All of them. I fly without any instruments all the time. Much better that way.
 
bartmc said:
The Wx500 in my plane, I'm VFR only and all it does is give false positives.

I did see a panel mounted apparatus that contained the alphabet and allowed you to select the current ATIS. Seemed useless to me.

I expect to hear about your LORAN and ADF. :rofl:
Click to expand...

The ATC radio/voice recorder is the most useless item in my plane.

If you miss a transmission, you're suppose to press a rewind button and it plays back the last 10 seconds or so.

The problem is, by the time you press the button (2 seconds) and listen to the radio call (10 more seconds) and assuming it comes back clear, you reach for the PTT button (another 2 seconds) ATC is usually recalling you on the radio again with an attitude. It's just better to ask them to "Say Again for N123A." and move on.

The E6B is another item (instrument) that once I purchased it and took my Knowledge test, it never left my flight bag...until I retired it to the junk room with my free-weights, treadmill and the dog's PediPaws sander.

The ash tray.

The little red bottle my wife bought me from Sporty's in case I have to relieve myself on a long x-country. Never used it and I'm convinced the gift was more of a joke than an "instrument" with utility.

Mutt Muffs. These are really cute and make for great pictures if you take one quick enough. Otherwise, the dog shakes them off in 4 seconds.

The Sporty's Sight-Level to determine if you're about to fly into a cloud...'nuff said.

Paper charts are the buggy-whips of this decade. They do make for great wallpaper in my office to push pins in to show where I've flown in my lifetime by GA. I use the WAC for this and they work great. I have the whole eastern 1/2 of country the wall to the foothills of the Rockies. I have white pins in the places I haven't flown, but have on the "bucket list".

I'm sure others will have some creative posts to this idea of "The Most unimportant/useless Aviation Items" we have or know of.

Gene
 
drgwentzel said:
The ATC radio/voice recorder is the most useless item in my plane.

If you miss a transmission, you're suppose to press a rewind button and it plays back the last 10 seconds or so.

The problem is, by the time you press the button (2 seconds) and listen to the radio call (10 more seconds) and assuming it comes back clear, you reach for the PTT button (another 2 seconds) ATC is usually recalling you on the radio again with an attitude. It's just better to ask them to "Say Again for N123A." and move on.

The E6B is another item (instrument) that once I purchased it and took my Knowledge test, it never left my flight bag...until I retired it to the junk room with my free-weights, treadmill and the dog's PediPaws sander.

The ash tray.

The little red bottle my wife bought me from Sporty's in case I have to relieve myself on a long x-country. Never used it and I'm convinced the gift was more of a joke than an "instrument" with utility.

Mutt Muffs. These are really cute and make for great pictures if you take one quick enough. Otherwise, the dog shakes them off in 4 seconds.

The Sporty's Sight-Level to determine if you're about to fly into a cloud...'nuff said.

Paper charts are the buggy-whips of this decade. They do make for great wallpaper in my office to push pins in to show where I've flown in my lifetime by GA. I use the WAC for this and they work great. I have the whole eastern 1/2 of country the wall to the foothills of the Rockies. I have white pins in the places I haven't flown, but have on the "bucket list".

I'm sure others will have some creative posts to this idea of "The Most unimportant/useless Aviation Items" we have or know of.

Gene
Click to expand...

Holding pattern calculator.
 
My "Stormscope" is a joke as well. Too many false results and maybe it is just too old.
 
Carb Temp Gauge, showed in the yellow most of the time all it did was scare the passengers. When I needed a hole for the fuel press gauge with the Lyc O-360 conversion the Carb Temp Gauge came out, haven't missed it.
 
tehmightypirate said:
Hobbs meter.
Click to expand...

I didn't know my plane had one until I'd had it for about 6 months. It's located on the bottom of the pedestal, would take a contortionist to read it. I have no idea if it works nor do I have any idea what it currently reads.
 
My kns-80 rnav, even more so now that the display has stopped working.
 
Pretty much both VOR heads I use rarely since I don't shoot approaches.

It's follow the magenta line all the time.

The Benjamins I dropped on a second VOR head would have been better spent on an engine analyzer or fuel computer.
 
Last edited:
AS,comp,alt,but fly the plane!!! AS. Undeniably the one I'd like to have in vfr.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Fuel gauge on a 58 Cessna. Better just time it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The Arrow I rent still has the LORAN installed.
 
Sac Arrow said:
You're welcome Bart. I love you too.
Click to expand...

In my best Early Cuyler voice.. "I ain't queer". :hairraise:

Sorry, your thread made me think of my WX500, while it's a neat piece of electronics, it made me think of this:

bull-528-x-331.jpg
 
drgwentzel said:
The ATC radio/voice recorder is the most useless item in my plane.

If you miss a transmission, you're suppose to press a rewind button and it plays back the last 10 seconds or so.

The problem is, by the time you press the button (2 seconds) and listen to the radio call (10 more seconds) and assuming it comes back clear, you reach for the PTT button (another 2 seconds) ATC is usually recalling you on the radio again with an attitude. It's just better to ask them to "Say Again for N123A." and move on.

The E6B is another item (instrument) that once I purchased it and took my Knowledge test, it never left my flight bag...until I retired it to the junk room with my free-weights, treadmill and the dog's PediPaws sander.

The ash tray.

The little red bottle my wife bought me from Sporty's in case I have to relieve myself on a long x-country. Never used it and I'm convinced the gift was more of a joke than an "instrument" with utility.

Mutt Muffs. These are really cute and make for great pictures if you take one quick enough. Otherwise, the dog shakes them off in 4 seconds.

The Sporty's Sight-Level to determine if you're about to fly into a cloud...'nuff said.

Paper charts are the buggy-whips of this decade. They do make for great wallpaper in my office to push pins in to show where I've flown in my lifetime by GA. I use the WAC for this and they work great. I have the whole eastern 1/2 of country the wall to the foothills of the Rockies. I have white pins in the places I haven't flown, but have on the "bucket list".

I'm sure others will have some creative posts to this idea of "The Most unimportant/useless Aviation Items" we have or know of.

Gene
Click to expand...

bartmc said:
Holding pattern calculator.
Click to expand...


Those are two items that I've seen for sale and alway wondered who bought that stuff? Thanks for clearing up that mystery!

:rofl:
 
ADF and the aviation AM/FM/CD radio the DPO had installed in the plane. XM thru the 496 or iPod is just fine, thanks.
 
gismo said:
The broken one.
Click to expand...

Specifically which one?

I dropped my plane off at the avionics shop yesterday.

HSI NAV flag is out.
GPSS/HDG button is out.
Davatron OAT/Ammeter is out.
GNS530 COMM is out, so is the memory.

This is gonna hurt.
 
The instrument above the left yoke is a total mystery. I've asked several old timers what it is, even an 88 year old Avionics guy and no one can identify it.

USUALLY the needle indicates the heading of the aircraft, and the red needle can be set anywhere. USUALLY you can pick a heading, set the red needle on that heading and keep the needle on the red indicator to maintain heading, as if you needed to.

Mystery instrument.
 

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MBDiagMan said:
The instrument above the left yoke is a total mystery. I've asked several old timers what it is, even an 88 year old Avionics guy and no one can identify it.

USUALLY the needle indicates the heading of the aircraft, and the red needle can be set anywhere. USUALLY you can pick a heading, set the red needle on that heading and keep the needle on the red indicator to maintain heading, as if you needed to.

Mystery instrument.
Click to expand...

Any chance that's the magnetic compass? Does it show turning error?

That doesn't appear to be a factory 140 panel. At least the early 140s did have the magnetic compass in the panel at about that position.
 
MBDiagMan said:
The instrument above the left yoke is a total mystery. I've asked several old timers what it is, even an 88 year old Avionics guy and no one can identify it.

USUALLY the needle indicates the heading of the aircraft, and the red needle can be set anywhere. USUALLY you can pick a heading, set the red needle on that heading and keep the needle on the red indicator to maintain heading, as if you needed to.

Mystery instrument.
Click to expand...

Electric Compass? I believe Tom had a similar mystery instrument in his 140.
 
MBDiagMan said:
The instrument above the left yoke is a total mystery. I've asked several old timers what it is, even an 88 year old Avionics guy and no one can identify it.

USUALLY the needle indicates the heading of the aircraft, and the red needle can be set anywhere. USUALLY you can pick a heading, set the red needle on that heading and keep the needle on the red indicator to maintain heading, as if you needed to.

Mystery instrument.
Click to expand...
Is it connected by wires to a rather large heavy remote unit somewhere back in the fuselage? When I bought my Cessna 170 it had one that looked similar, didn't work but I was told it was an electric slaved compass. It didn't survive my first panel update.
 
MBDiagMan said:
The instrument above the left yoke is a total mystery. I've asked several old timers what it is, even an 88 year old Avionics guy and no one can identify it.

USUALLY the needle indicates the heading of the aircraft, and the red needle can be set anywhere. USUALLY you can pick a heading, set the red needle on that heading and keep the needle on the red indicator to maintain heading, as if you needed to.

Mystery instrument.
Click to expand...

Might be a RMI but much of the instrument is blocked in the picture and rather hard to see. Any chance of an unobstructed closeup?
 
MAKG1 said:
Any chance that's the magnetic compass? Does it show turning error?

That doesn't appear to be a factory 140 panel. At least the early 140s did have the magnetic compass in the panel at about that position.
Click to expand...


No, it's not a factory panel. The aircraft was completely restored and heavily modified in the early eighties by a fellow in the California Wine Country. He poured TONS of money into the project, way more than it could have ever been worth.

The aircraft has a card compass at the top of the windshield, above the area seen in that picture.
 
gismo said:
Might be a RMI but much of the instrument is blocked in the picture and rather hard to see. Any chance of an unobstructed closeup?
Click to expand...


I'm hoping to get in a few landings this afternoon. I will try to get a better picture.
 
Well I forgot to take the picture until it was getting dark and I had already pulled the plane into the hangar. I had to use a flashlight. The high definition makes it appear that I need to dust the panel even though it appears squeaky clean.

Here is the mystery instrument:
 

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ClimbnSink said:
True that. The measure of a modern pilot is how many TV screens he sits behind.:D
Click to expand...

Awww man, are you telling me I bought those high-dollar sunglasses and the great big watch for nothing?
 
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