Too many panels . .

S

Sundancer

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Sundog
I'm in a club with a Cherokee 140 now - flown it a bit, filing IFR in VMC to get acquainted with ATC and local area here. . .I got recurrent in a Cirrus w/Avidyne, then time in a steam 172 with 430 and 530, and the 140 with Aspen EFD - and the sort of "cartoon" like Garmin 355 . . . Gonna take a safety pilot and do some approaches Thursday. Spent today using the Garmin simulator, watching Aspen YT videos, and RTFMs. . .thing is, I'm not seeing there is a big difference - glass is basically pictures of steam gauges; handy, but kinda "busy" displays. GPS boxes are all much alike, as are the EFDs. I'm not complacent - I hope. I know the bold face and systems, V speeds, etc. Just feel like I'm not thinking of something. . .
 
I flew behind a 430 for 3 years, then had a panel overhaul and installed an IFD540 about 7 years ago. When I schedule time with my CFII on his simulator for IFR proficiency and have to use the 430, there's a little bit of struggle to remember how it works.

Dunno what that really means, except that my 3 years of using a 430 7 years ago isn't helping me much today. I wouldn't hop in a 430-equipped plane and just expect it to all come back to me immediately. I'd expect some hiccups if I didn't take some effort to refresh my memory beforehand.
 
Hah - I'm just a student and already I feel the same way.
I've flown everything from a 150 with no modern avionics to LSAs with modern glass, and in-between mashups with the little Aspen as the PFD, the ubiquitous GNS 430 etc...

Even with the modern glass, there are some that I like more than others. The Garmin G3X Touch, for example, is a little more intuitive for me than the Dynon Skyview since I can just touch what I want to do, instead of remembering "this knob does this when I'm on this screen, but not when I'm on this one" and such.

Really, I need to stick with one plane for a while, but to your point - yes, we are in a strange transformative time where things are changing from a system that's a century old to a bunch of new players.
 
Pick a plane and stick with it until you’re completely comfortable. Then add in other planes you ar going to fly on a regular basis. Buying your own plane would also work.
 
LOL! I think I missed the market on buying my own. . . And you know what I overlooked boning up on? The comm panel! Spent 5 minutes trying to get my cell phone paired!. Finally reverted to my BluLink. I like the Aspen - good value, IMHO.
 
Too many panels … not enough time.
I feel your pain.
 
Important information can be gleaned from a disciplined scan of a steam gauge panel which only takes a second or two (if that long); however, glass panels, from what I've read (I have no personal experience with them) seem to require switching between screens/displays to obtain equivalent information, making it inconvenient to look out the window.
 
Six of one, etc. . .flying with both concurrently I didn't see a huge difference - IMHO steam gauges are less busy, more intuitive, especially the analog display of rate changes, like airspeed and altitude. The "tapes" require reading and interpretation - a steam AS indicator doesn't - just a glance at the needle position - in a familiar aircraft you don't need the number - the needle position tells the story. Glass puts it mostly all in one place, and I like it better in cruise. Scan is more easily accomplished, I thnk. The Cirrus had good integration, especially with the AP, and the AP "state" was right there and obvious. For a hand flown ILS the steam gauge is hands-down better, especially once stabilized - the GS is just more obvious. All subjective - it's funny that physical control of the airplane becomes an "unconscious" skill - the buttonolgy, the systems, become paramount.
 
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