Teaching new students with old E6-B

[rottydaddy]

As far as portables go, it's hard to beat a whiz wheel, starting with the price. No power source needed- it will always be ready to work.
And try dropping your electronic flight computer or GPS in a puddle, then stepping on it, and see if it still works.

Besides, everyone knows manual flight computers are the preferred tools of smarter, superior types. Centuries from now, they'll be using them on starships!!

 

[rottydaddy]

The thing is..for most of the calculations that need to be made..they can be made in your head and it'll be accurate enough. The variables you plug into the E6B in the first place are less than accurate so the end result isn't much better then what is in my head anyways.

There is value in learning how to plan a flight on a nav log with everything done with a manual E6B. The value is learning the relationships and everything one should think about. The actual value of the navlog in flight, is less than spectacular, because of all the variables.

Even if all your fancy electronics die in flight. Do you really need a manual E6B to figure out how long it'll take to go 300 miles at 120 knots and how much fuel that'll take? Absolute precision isn't required when the data coming in isn't of much precision.

A good point.
But, although it's rarely used in flight, the wind side of the E6B makes that kind of figuring much simpler. I don't even know the equations required to suss that out, if, say, I needed to divert and knew I'd have a much different wind component for that leg. Most times you only need to know that it will take a little more or less time, but if time was critical, it'd be nice to have a sharper tool... especially one that is guaranteed to work no matter what. And an E6B can easily be used to determine wind direction and velocity in flight... you just do the usual pre-flight planning stuff backwards (sort of).

I also think that the use of a visual scale for any calculations helps prepare you for the times you do wind up "guesstimating"... it does for me, anyway. Maybe it's my age showing, but I think button-pushing or simply watching a display refresh itself is not as conducive to learning to visualize the relationships between values. It's a lot like the difference between learning to interpret charts and simply following a line on a display, and with navaids as well as flight computers, the "obsolete" tools will never fail you as long as you have the skills.

 

[Pilawt]

... And you look so cool using one, too!

 

[BillTIZ]

I learned to use a circular slide rule long before I ever saw an E6B. I had problems working the standard slide rule. I had a very smart math instructor.

Kids today don't learn slide rule, they have graphing calculators. Some can even program the calculator. E6B programs, FAR/AIM and DUATS are on their iPhone.

I agree, the wind side of the E6B makes a great visual teaching aid.
Yes, they will need a stand alone manual or electronic E6B for the knowledge test. No phones in the testing center. There is an electronic E6B on the testing computer.

 

[BillTIZ]

The thing is..for most of the calculations that need to be made..they can be made in your head and it'll be accurate enough. The variables you plug into the E6B in the first place are less than accurate so the end result isn't much better then what is in my head anyways.

TLAR Navigation, (That Looks About Right)
Mental math, a plotter, and a pair of "speed dividers" in the hands of a USAF Master Navigator.

 

[jmcsherry]

My proficiency with the E6B has fallen to the point where I have to dig out the darn book for some things with it.
days.

You must have an unusual model of E6-B then; every one I have seen in the last 15 years has the instructions printed on the face of the instrument. Wind calculations, distance/time/speed, fuel/time; all spelled out right next to the part of the instrument you are using.

When I'm teaching a student how to use it, I keep telling them, "just read the directions".

 

[Akita]

As far as portables go, it's hard to beat a whiz wheel, starting with the price. No power source needed- it will always be ready to work.
And try dropping your electronic flight computer or GPS in a puddle, then stepping on it, and see if it still works.

Besides, everyone knows manual flight computers are the preferred tools of smarter, superior types. Centuries from now, they'll be using them on starships!!

Thanks for that picture!

 

[denverpilot]

The thing that throws most people about the wind triangle is that if you take a direct crosswind from the left of say, 10 knots...

And you make it a 45 degree off runway-heading crosswind of the same strength...

You end up with 7.1 knots on the nose, and 7.1 knots on the left side.

People unfamiliar with wind vectors then try to do this mental math, which isn't right... 7.1 + 7.1 = 14.2 ... and end up all confused... "Hey, how'd the wind force get stronger?! It's only 10 knots of wind!"

That's what makes it totally non-intuitive for most folks.

"Half" the angle, "half" the crosswind component? No.

Swing it around to where it's 30 degrees off the nose, now it's 8.7 knots on the nose, and 5.0 knots on the left... which is where "intuitively" you'd think it would be at 45 degrees.

The 30 degree rule always works... "If the wind is within 30 degrees of the nose, the crosswind component will always be half or less, of the total wind speed."

That rule can actually be applied QUICKLY without pulling out a whiz wheel.

Know how many instructors have ever mentioned that one to me? One.

Know how useful it is when you hear a wind report on ASOS or ATIS that's within 30 degrees of the runway heading? Very. Chop the wind speed in half and you know your crosswind component is that or below.

Anything beyond 30 degrees off runway heading, just assume the whole damn thing is crosswind unless you're talking huge winds you shouldn't be flying in, anyway. At lower numbers, it's close enough.

 

[jesse]

The thing that throws most people about the wind triangle is that if you take a direct crosswind from the left of say, 10 knots...

And you make it a 45 degree off runway-heading crosswind of the same strength...

You end up with 7.1 knots on the nose, and 7.1 knots on the left side.

People unfamiliar with wind vectors then try to do this mental math, which isn't right... 7.1 + 7.1 = 14.2 ... and end up all confused... "Hey, how'd the wind force get stronger?! It's only 10 knots of wind!"

That's what makes it totally non-intuitive for most folks.

"Half" the angle, "half" the crosswind component? No.

Swing it around to where it's 30 degrees off the nose, now it's 8.7 knots on the nose, and 5.0 knots on the left... which is where "intuitively" you'd think it would be at 45 degrees.

The 30 degree rule always works... "If the wind is within 30 degrees of the nose, the crosswind component will always be half or less, of the total wind speed."

That rule can actually be applied QUICKLY without pulling out a whiz wheel.

Know how many instructors have ever mentioned that one to me? One.

Know how useful it is when you hear a wind report on ASOS or ATIS that's within 30 degrees of the runway heading? Very. Chop the wind speed in half and you know your crosswind component is that or below.

Anything beyond 30 degrees off runway heading, just assume the whole damn thing is crosswind unless you're talking huge winds you shouldn't be flying in, anyway. At lower numbers, it's close enough.

There is limited value IMO in calculating crosswind component in flight to land at an airport. I simply choose the runway that's most aligned with the wind and if I run out of rudder then there is too much wind.

A cross-wind component calculation is often of limited use because the same cross-wind can be very different at one airport versus another. Your touchdown point can change the wind. The wind changes itself. Etc. Etc.

 

[Ghery]

You are correct about Foreflight for the knowledge test. I took my written in April and he confiscated my Iphone for the duration. It was no problem since I went to college so long ago that I earned an Electrical Engineering degree with nothing but a slide rule and CRC tables.

I'm old enough that my EE degree program started out in the slide rule days, too. But the HP-35 came out during my Junior year. The Freshman class that spend 3/4 of its time teaching you how to run a double log slide rule had been substantially revamped by the time I graduated.

Oh, and I still have my Pickett N4-ES and know how to use it.

 

[poadeleted20]

Oh, and I still have my Pickett N4-ES and know how to use it.

I've got the Post VersaLog I got from a National Science Foundation program in 1967 in my top desk drawer. It replaced a cheap plastic K+E I got in Junior high.

When I was teaching at the university, it was always fun showing the students how they could do multiplication and division on their E-6B's. For real fun, I showed them how I could do addition and subtraction (to a limited extent) on my slide rule.