Trigamatrick
- Thread starter dtuuri
- Start date
gismo
Touchdown! Greaser!
Interesting new way to present old (and IMO obsolete
) information.Personally, even before LORAN and GPS replaced VOR navigation I never had any use for the tricks to get a time to a VOR by flying 90° off course. For one thing the wind can screw up that answer big time in a strong wind or a slow airplane and besides who want's to go 90° off course anyway.
And since almost anyone with a cellphone has a GPS these days...
dtuuri
Final Approach
A lot of the things we do in flight training have little direct practical value, but does that mean they're obsolete? I don't think so.Interesting new way to present old (and IMO obsolete
Personally, even before LORAN and GPS replaced VOR navigation I never had any use for the tricks to get a time to a VOR by flying 90° off course. For one thing the wind can screw up that answer big time in a strong wind or a slow airplane and besides who want's to go 90° off course anyway.
And since almost anyone with a cellphone has a GPS these days...
Did trigonometry ever become obsolete? Naw. Trigamatricks are useful relationships to know and apply in creative new problem-solving ways.
Having boob-tubes to star-gaze into is nice and all, but it's even nicer to be capable to fly anything and everything else too. The industry seems to be shooting itself in the foot through a lack of standardization. The manuals for some of these modern avionics suites are thicker than a textbook on the whole subject of instrument flight for traditional aircraft.
We're heading toward a needless era where you aren't an 'instrument' pilot anymore, but a 'Garmin' pilot or an 'Avidyne' pilot or a 'Cirrus' pilot. Shame on the industry and the FAA for taking this path in the name of competitive innovation. As pilots, we're going to be 'innovated' into technological straight-jackets courtesy of the insurance industry if not the FAA. Self-destruction is a natural force of nature--like gravity. Look how the Flight Review descended from the promised limited scope of being just an opportunity every two years to get the input of a CFI, to practically being a three-day refresher course/flight test by many CFIs. To avoid it takes real leadership. From somewhere.
I once heard Joan Rivers make a quip about algebra. She was Phi Beta Kappa at Barnard College. In all her life, she said,"I never had to find 'X'!"
Yet I seem to use algebra daily. Trigamatrick? Sometimes.dtuuri
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Tex_Mike
Pre-takeoff checklist
We're heading toward a needless era where you aren't an 'instrument' pilot anymore, but a 'Garmin' pilot or an 'Avidyne' pilot or a 'Cirrus' pilot. Shame on the industry and the FAA for taking this path in the name of competitive innovation.
dtuuri
Don't get me wrong. I love these kinds of tricks. You never know when it will come in handy in the aircraft you are flying or in some other aspect of life- but why do you think the FAA is to blame for pilots losing instrument skills? When I took my checkride we hardly touched the GPS but did a few VOR exercises. Are you refering to the FAA pushing the use of GPS approaches etc? Just trying to understand where you are coming from.
dtuuri
Final Approach
So I decided to take a break and check email and found your post hot off the press!
Not talking about "losing instrument skills". I was referring to the age of specialization. I hate it. Don't want to be known as a "Cirrus pilot" or "Garmin pilot". I want to fly 'em all, one as well as another. Just like you can use anybody's VOR, you ought to be able to operate anybody's moving map. Shouldn't have to study a 100+ page moving map manual. Garmin is damn lucky I'm not King of the FAA--I'd make it a requirement that NO manual must be required to operate avionics. That'd fix 'em.
dtuuri
poadeleted21
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2011
- Messages
- 12,332
So I decided to take a break and check email and found your post hot off the press!
Not talking about "losing instrument skills". I was referring to the age of specialization. I hate it. Don't want to be known as a "Cirrus pilot" or "Garmin pilot". I want to fly 'em all, one as well as another. Just like you can use anybody's VOR, you ought to be able to operate anybody's moving map. Shouldn't have to study a 100+ page moving map manual. Garmin is damn lucky I'm not King of the FAA--I'd make it a requirement that NO manual must be required to operate avionics. That'd fix 'em.
dtuuri
Just toss in a KR86 and a couple of KX170B's in and away you go.... There's plenty of different manuals 100+ pages thick on how to operate those. Me, myself, I like competition, innovation and choice.
