Steam gauges disappeared from commercial aircrafts but they still exists in GA aircrafts. Old days most PPL students used to get trained on steam gauges to learn real skills But now days expensive aviations schools have new aircrafts fitted with fancy G1000 glass panels.
Those āsteam gaugesā were the ones weāre stuck with and it was the best we had concerning the times - but all this considering that a glass cockpit were too expensive. True, fun times, and still necessary, but as safety is number one nowadays a glass cockpit nips out just a bit of the time out fromā¦ working your brain.
The following is a true story, a long time ago:
Somewhere between 2000-4000 feet where the clouds rest at the timeā¦
Flight instructor: āWhere are we?ā
Me: āUmmā¦ā
Flight instructor: āWhere are we??ā
Me: āUmmmmmā¦ā
I currently train in a C172 with a G1000 display.
However, I started my training in a C150, and a DA-20, both with steam gauges. (The basic 6 pack).
I think it is important to be trained in both. I find it necessary to understand how to work steam gauges, as a basic part of information. Understanding the 6 pack has made it a lot easier to use the G1000.
Currently, I love training in the glass flight deck. It is organized, fluid, and and a lot easier to get things done. (My opinion). However, The standby to the G1000 are steam gauges, and I should most definitely be able to understand how to operate them.
Youāre flying around with your instructor and all of a sudden that screen goes black. You have no clue what your speed or heading is (At least when Iāve used a glass cockpit in the C162). Now my main aircraft is a Piper PA-28. That plane is all gauges minus the Garmin G400 navigation system.
My point is, itās safer to use steam gauges since theyāre reliable. but it is important to learn how to use a glass cockpit since more and more planes are being built with them.
However, all aircraft equipped with G1000 screens have backup displays. So, if the master and the standby battery fail, we still have standby steam gauges that can help us return.
Interesting: This link talks about a buyers guide for glass panel instruments. In the article it says:
"the Federal Aviation Administration requires modern digital electronic panels to employ a backup set of instruments ā often a compact, but old style, spinning-mass attitude indicator, plus an airspeed indicator and altimeter. Typically, the standby AI is electric and the aircraft sports a secondary source of electrical power."
Honestly I think all new students and all instrument students should learn on a six pack w no autopilot. Why? Situational awareness. It teaches the pilot how to fly and figure out were they are without the use of technology (I know some planes have GPS, but you donāt have to use them).
Hereās my relatively inexperienced opinion:
Iām working on my private in planes with analog gauges and a couple of the planes have Garmin attitude indicators/heading indicators. For my further ratings/licenses, I will be in G1000 equipped planes. I personally think both are important to have experience with, although so far I only have experience in all analog cockpits and partial glass cockpits.
the reason i had, and still have, a six pack (hehe ;)) is because the plane i fly in is the Piper Warrior. it just doesnāt have the glass cockpit, although i wish it did!
Iāll be honest though, i kind of prefer the six pack style because if i need, for some strange reason**, the turn coordinator, i can look at one display and it will be there rather than looking at this screen thatās got so many different things going on on it!
I say āfor some strange reasonā because, in the words of my flying instructor, āitās a tonne of stā. And, letās be honest, heās not wrong!
I have the option to train with both and use both regularly.
I have found I much rather prefer our G1000, especially since we have ADSB in and out, connecting to ForeFlight is great with that.
Though, if I am needing to do specific mentally challenging things, I have found that the G1000 can quickly overwhelm you, and possibly cause you to make errors.
So for flights when Iām going out to do maneuvers, or just run through all the different landings and takeoffs, I book the steam gauge planes.
Steam gauges are much simpler, 6 dials to watch and they are adjusted right there compared to the 2/3 screens for the G1000 and their dials not making much sense.
When Iām flying cross country, G1000 all day long.
The best part about flying between the two, at least at my school, is there is only a $10 dollar difference between them.
Now, you wanna know whatās better than both of those, an aircraft with air conditioningā¦ that is the bees knees! And yes, we have one of those too.
I would like to train on steam gauges because I would be able to fly steam and glass instead of only glass. I would have more flexibility when talking about the airplane flown.
I see it like this, Iām in Geometry right now for math, and we do a lot on calculators, because fancy graphing calculators exist, and are fairly common. But you still need to know the equations, and how to graph something on paper since you gain a better understandingā¦
