E6B Usage

Have you used an E6B in the last year for anything other than flight instruction?

  • Yes

    Votes: 18 18.6%

  • No

    Votes: 79 81.4%
  • Total voters
    97
John221us

John221us

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On another thread, related to flight bags, I noticed a number of pilots mentioned that they carry an E6B. Has anyone used one in flight recently or even for flight planning on a return flight. Heck, I'll take that further, has anyone, other than a student or a CFI working with a student found any use for one of these things in, let's say, the last year?
 
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I let the GPS do the heavy lifting for me.
 
Yes, ForeFlight, Garmin, fltplan.com, WingX, etc. are all great flight planning and navigation tools. My dad gave me his old slide rule years ago. I still have it, but nobody has used it for math since the early 70's.
 
Yeah I use an E6B. In flight thought I mostly use the GPS but I don't like to be completely dependent on one system.
 
I will admit I don't use it. I know how to, but I just don't shave hairs that much for fine calculations to be worthwhile.
 
I do mental math in flight, 2 miles/min, 11gph.
TLAR for inflight works just fine. That Looks About Right.

ForeFlight and other online flight planning tools spin all the big numbers on the ground.
 
MachFly said:
Yeah I use an E6B. In flight thought I mostly use the GPS but I don't like to be completely dependent on one system.
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True, but I have a Garmin 496, and both an iPad and iPhone with ForeFlight loaded on every flight. Plus I have a current sectional and AF/D, two working radios, a VOR receiver and a handheld radio. I can't really picture a scenario that an E6B would be handy to have in the flight bag. Not that they take much room, but I am of the opinion that they have seen their day and should probably be removed from the training curriculum. At the very least, let students use a phone based app to perform calculations. My son just graduated high school a year ago and a graphing calculator was required, even for the SATs. No one expects these kids to know how to use a slide rule. Even the electronic E6B's are basically 1970's technology.
 
You know, sometimes the whiz wheel is still the fastest way to do things, I guess having my dad teaching me to use a slide rule as a little kid before the days of calculators (I still remember when we got our first TI-x 5 function calculator way back when for $100) made it pretty natural for me to use and I loved the single handed round format. Most of the time though I just do the outer ring stuff in my head.
 
Whiz wheel lives in the flight bag as ballast and is fourth in line behind three better tools.
 
For some reason, the old and cheap GPS I use does not have an option to show estimated time of arrival. By setting the E6B to ground speed (which is given by the GPS) and looking down from the distance, I can immediately read the ETA.

So I still carry the E6B and use it.
 
Am I the only one that has some love for the whiz wheel just for the ingenuity and beauty in form and function?
 
Henning said:
Am I the only one that has some love for the whiz wheel just for the ingenuity and beauty in form and function?
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Aparrently so, I don't believe in that fancy spinning wheel technology with markings and what not.

220px-Schoty_abacus.jpg
 
DUAT flight planning on the ground and mental math in flight (I don't regularly fly with a GPS, but when I do I let it do the bulk of my work, but I do back it up with some basic mental math).
 
While I'm still a student, I know what kind of equipment I'll have available to me after I get my license. I won't be able to do a whole lot of cross country flying, but when I am it'll be restricted to a pretty barebones rental 152, so I'll be stuck with the E6B. Besides (and this might just be the student in me talking), I sort of enjoy using it :blush:
 
GCA319 said:
DUAT flight planning on the ground and mental math in flight (I don't regularly fly with a GPS, but when I do I let it do the bulk of my work, but I do back it up with some basic mental math).
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ETAs I usually do with mental math (though the GPS can handle that). Wind drift is pretty much handled by the GPS and I have backup with ForeFlight. I usually print a nav log, which is pretty accurate.
 
Even on my check ride, I was using pilotage and dead reckoning. My DPE finally pointed at the GPS and said "aren't you going to use this thing" (it was a portable 496).
 
John221us said:
Even on my check ride, I was using pilotage and dead reckoning. My DPE finally pointed at the GPS and said "aren't you going to use this thing" (it was a portable 496).
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"Feel free if you're lost!" - you missed a golden opportunity there, I tell ya.
 
denverpilot said:
"Feel free if you're lost!" - you missed a golden opportunity there, I tell ya.
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Yes, I was pointing to the Sutter Buttes (a fairly prominent landmark, even if they are the worlds smallest mountain range) and suggesting my home airport was to the east. I think he just wanted to see me use it.
 
I have only used it to make the DPE or my CFI happy. I mostly just use the GPS or ForeFlight. Thankfully I did all my flight training before my school outlawed electronic flight aids during training. :rolleyes2: Apparently our Dept head didn't like me turning in screenshots of Foreflight as my nav logs. :rofl:
 
Henning said:
Am I the only one that has some love for the whiz wheel just for the ingenuity and beauty in form and function?
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Hey I still use it. I haven't missed Honolulu yet! I haven't had to revise my estimates either.

It's quicker than a calculator.
 
Bobcat1 said:
Hey I still use it. I haven't missed Honolulu yet! I haven't had to revise my estimates either.

It's quicker than a calculator.
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I run a whiz wheel faster than even the electronic E6B, spin look, all there is to it.
 
Henning said:
I run a whiz wheel faster than even the electronic E6B, spin look, all there is to it.
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Yeah, they're speedy for some stuff.

For most of my flying, 120 knots goes into 60 minutes so nicely that it's all just in my head. The airplane usually goes a tad faster but usually you're just double checking times, and a little slower number gives a fudge factor. And I have a knack for finding headwinds.

Doing winds on an E6B is a PITA in the cockpit. It's easier to do a mental guesstimate and pad it, or use the electronic gadget if you need a crosswind component down to a single degree. Which is rare.

I've done the "hold your thumb on the dot" thing when all I had was a pen that would have left a permanent mark, too... so it can be useable, but not particularly enjoyable. Sometimes it's just easier to eyeball it.

Pencil, dot, rotate, slide, for winds... all that silliness in flight? Not unless the other three gadgets all died simultaneously in a massive EMP pulse. Annoying.

I had one instructor who was in love with this thing...

http://www.stefanv.com/aviation/flight_computers/cr.jpg

Which is fine, except I had to go buy one and fart around with it to make him happy. The small ones will fit in a pocket easier and take up less space, so I get the draw over the E6B. The "stick your thumb on it" technique also works far better than on an E6B with a slider.

That same website has a write-up on how they differ, if anyone wants to read it...

http://www.stefanv.com/aviation/flight_computers.html

One of my co-owners nixed getting a digital clock when we replaced ours, because he was taught to use the clock face to estimate, as described about halfway down this thread here...

http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-471963.html

I've been trying it, and generally, it's close enough for government work.

He joked that if he forgets his watch, it's easier to visualize on a clock on the panel. I think he just wanted analog. ;)

Fine by me, but I'd rather have an approach timer there in that hole. Or higher. Watching a sweep second hand sucks... but can be done... in a pinch.
 
I had planned to buy a nicer E6B, but don't think I will. I used it once, I think, on the knowledge test. My CFIs all asked if I knew how to use it -- but none actually wanted to see me use it. The DPE never mentioned it (but asked before the flight if I had one along). I'll keep it in the flight bag, and I'll pull it out once in a while to make sure I don't forget how to use it. I do find it handy to convert between statute and nautical if I need an exact answer, but aside from that... haven't really needed it.
 
On my checkride, I could tell that the examiner was making me show him I could use it because it was a requirement, not because he thought I needed to. About two minutes into my flight he said, "You go 10 miles in 5 minutes, what is your groundspeed?" I pulled out the E6B just to show him I knew how to use it and from then on, he told me to use the GPS. Point is, yes I still keep one in my bag but I let DUATS flight planner and the GPS do the calculations for me. I could whip it out if I really needed it.
 
With my son learning to fly, he needed an E6B, so I looked for mine........OK, I found my dad's, he stopped flying in 1979.:rolleyes: We worked with it for a bit and got it spinning again, then I tried to show him how it worked.:mad2: I realized I hadn't used one since I got my IR, 20+ years ago!:eek:
I really haven't seen a need to use one in the last 20 years, between computerized pre-flight planning and GPS in the plane, I'm usually within 5%+/- on flight times and winds aloft are available on the GPS. Also, after a few trips in an airplane, you know what speeds to expect and I can estimate GS pretty close with winds aloft forecasts.:rolleyes:
 
My E6B isn't with me presently on the fire contract, but it was required in the B747, and I did use it. I also carried and used a plotter.
 
I still like to work a few problems with it every now and then. Just think it's kinda cool...maybe it's a nostalgia thing. Probably the same reason I catch my dad using a slide rule on occasion. I know that thing can't be saving him any time!
 
I have a round plastic E6B in Fat Albert - old, scratched, faded - right there with the fuel cup, screw driver, barf bags, etc.
I do use it in flight, but mostly to calculate how long at my present rate of money consumption before I am flat broke...
According to the whiz wheel I had better take up booze, smoking, and sky diving, or the cause of my demise will be starvation...
 
I use the one on my watch all the time. Of course I can't get density altitude, true airspeed or heading calculations but I use it a bunch for fuel burn, nautical to mph to kilometers, ETA, and decent rate for a particular glide path.
 
Dr. O said:
I have a round plastic E6B in Fat Albert - old, scratched, faded - right there with the fuel cup, screw driver, barf bags, etc.
I do use it in flight, but mostly to calculate how long at my present rate of money consumption before I am flat broke...
According to the whiz wheel I had better take up booze, smoking, and sky diving, or the cause of my demise will be starvation...
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It's simply amazing all the calculations it can perform and varied different subjects it can provide answers for.:rofl:
 
midlifeflyer said:
I haven't used an manual E6B (except for teaching) for at least 20 years.
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Now that I think about it I took an online international procedures class a couple years ago and the guy in the video got out an E6B and plotter. Of the pilots viewing the video I think I was the only one who even owned an E6B and I had to go digging through my drawer to find it. I even brought it along on the flight but it was unneeded.
 
Now that I think about it I took an online international procedures class a couple years ago and the guy in the video got out an E6B and plotter. Of the pilots viewing the video I think I was the only one who even owned an E6B and I had to go digging through my drawer to find it. I even brought it along on the flight but it was unneeded.
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I carry and use them internationally.
 
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