Technology in Aviation

I received my private pilot’s license just over two years ago.  The plane I received my license in had an older style of navigation instruments in it as many private planes do.  It consisted of what pilots call a “six-pack,” a simple GPS, and a two-way radio.  A “six-pack” consists of six basic flight instruments which are typically mechanically operated: an air speed indicator, turn coordinator, artificial horizon, compass, altimeter, and a vertical speed indicator.  The GPS in this plane was a small screen on which the pilot could select their destination and then it would tell the pilot how far the destination was and in what direction to travel to reach the destination.

"Six-Pack"

  I bring this up because this past summer I flew a very new plane, which was still a small two person private plane.  This plane had the Dynon SkyView, a single touch screen display, and a radio in the cockpit and nothing else (except the typical switches and controls).  The one single screen had a built in computer that controlled just about everything in the plane. The system had a moving map display as well as all the other flight instruments.  It also included a receiving transponder which allowed the system to display other planes on the moving map so that you can see all the planes that are around you. This was very convenient and made it much easier to manage navigating. 

Dynon SkyView

 Although the system did make flying much easier I also felt it took away from the actual flying.  It made it so that I was focusing much more inside the airplane and looking at the screen much more than if I had been using the traditional “six-pack.”  The difference this made was that I was relying much more on the instruments than I would have liked and had something gone wrong I may have had an issue finding a solution because I was so focused on what the computer was telling me.  The other issue with my focus being inside the plane is that flying became much less enjoyable and much more of a chore.  I know you might be thinking why would you do it if it is less enjoyable?   The answer to that is pretty simple, I trust the technology and think it will make it easier. 

The other issue with using the better technology in flying is that I, and many other pilots, trust the technology quite a bit.  When the only form of instrumentation is the computerized electronics then it could be very easy for something to go wrong.  If the alternator were to fail which does happen occasionally and it is not recognized early it could cause a loss of all of the instrumentation because it is all electronic as opposed to being mechanically operated.  If there were to be mechanically operated backups this issue could be eliminated.

All in all, I do think that the advancement in the technology is good for aviation.  It has been used for many years in larger commercial planes and private/corporate jets.  Most of these planes that use them have backup mechanical gauges in case something happens to the electronics.  I personally believe that if the electronic instruments are backed up with mechanical gauges and pilots recognize that they still need to make sure that they look outside these new systems could be beneficial, but they do have their consequences.