Midwest Flyer Magazine

FLIGHT TRAININGA Commentary On Advanced Avionicsby Harold GreenWe arecurrentlyin thethroes of a generalaviation revolution.We have airplanes thatcruise comfortablyat 24,000 feet at wellover 200 knots, haveHarold Greena range approaching1,000 miles, comeequipped with ice prevention, andprovide sophisticated electronics thatonly a few years ago were to be foundonly in the most sophisticated militaryand airline aircraft, if at all. Note:When such sophisticated capabilitywas available in the past, there weregenerally two pilots in the airplane. Infact, some things like uploaded weatherwere not available at any price justa few short years ago. Today we canwatch ourselves as the little airplanecrawls along the approach chart as weexecute an approach or even as we taxion the surface of the airport. We can,air traffic control permitting, virtuallyprogram our entire flight, including aninstrument approach, before we evenleave the ground. We still have to takeoff using our own muscles and brains,but once airborne, we need only push afew buttons and then sit back and enjoythe flight with the only effort on ourpart being to adjust the throttle(s). Thesystem will warn us of any potentialtraffic hazards throughout the flight,and during the flight, we can lookat radar weather uplinked from theground. Of course we are still taskedwith landing the airplane. In time,these systems will become even moresophisticated. Certainly from a puretechnology viewpoint, it would be easyto automate both the take off and thelanding.As with everything in life, theseadvances come at a price. There isa maxim in economics known asTINSTAAFL…There Is No SuchThing As A Free Lunch. That appliesto our avionics as well. There is theobvious cost of purchase and, of course,increased maintenance cost, andthen there is the cost associated withsatisfying the equipment’s insatiableappetite for up-to-date data. However,the two most important costs areincreased training and the need tomaintain our vigilance with respect totraffic and situational awareness.Please understand that in thispilot’s opinion, the advantages ofthese advances far and away overcomeany disadvantage, providing we learnhow to use the equipment withoutlosing track of airplane performance,other traffic and the demands thatAir Traffic Control places on us. As afurther caveat, let it be known that thedemise of the Very High FrequencyOmni directional Range, VOR, hasbeen prematurely reported. TheVOR is still around, and as specifiedin the Aeronautical InformationManual, paragraph 1-1-19, GeneralRequirements, an approved alternatemeans of navigation is required whenusing GPS equipment in IFR, and sinceNon-Directional Beacons are beingrapidly removed, the VOR is the mostlikely candidate. Therefore, the VORis likely to be around for as long as thisrequirement exists.The complexity issues are mostobvious when conducting IFRoperations. First, the simple old methodof finding the approach plate, twisting acouple of knobs and setting the OBS islong gone. Now we go through severalprocedures to select the approachand the initial fixes, and then activatethe approach. We still must have theapproach plate in front of us, be itLotsFor Sale!"#$!"#$0!""#$%$&'(&)*')+,)-"./0.""+123)&'"456)-"+#%#718)"""WI36 Dohlun Field - Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin!"#$%&'($')$#&*%(%"+&$,%-.,/(!$0&(1"2$3$40-*(*"5%3&5*(6-7#"*7-*8!"#$%&'"()*#"+$,*-./012)3*)"4$50&"672849"!!!!!!!!"#$%!%$&'$()*!&$!+,-.///:*5'";