There you are, at the airport. You wanted to learn to fly your whole life and you have already committed to training, but there were so many choices. What kind of aircraft--high or low wing, two-place or four-place, should I buy one and lease it back or should I learn to fly in the flight school's aircraft first?
As you walk down the flight line with your instructor, looking for your assigned aircraft, you spot a shiny new airplane on the ramp. You look in the door to see laptop-like screens built into the instrument panel. Wow, you think, flat-panel screens just like my computers at home and work! The instructor explains that this glass-cockpit aircraft takes the same physical skills to fly as the training airplanes that employ dials and gauges, but information is presented in a completely different way--and the technology offers improved situational awareness with its large moving-map display and depictions of weather, terrain hazards, and nearby aircraft. You decide to take your flight in one of these aircraft instead.
Since the 2004 introduction of the Avidyne Entegra and Garmin G1000 glass cockpit panels, general aviation has not been the same--and neither has the process of learning to fly. Sure, the hourly rental rate for the aircraft with the glass cockpit is higher than that of the training airplanes that your dad learned to fly, but it provides capabilities he probably never imagined.
A whole new world
Inside the office, you switch the keys and think you are ready to move out to preflight the new aircraft, but your flight instructor takes you into the classroom to spend some study time first. What is required to get yourself and this new aircraft ready to work together? When learning to fly or transitioning to technically advanced aircraft, pilots need to spend some time completing a ground class or software training program, and going through the aircraft manual. Not only will you find that the aircraft instrument panel is new, but if you've flown traditional aircraft, you will find that many procedures involved in preflight--as well as engine start, operation of avionics, understanding the electrical system, handling emergencies, and conducting the cockpit scan--are going to be different as well.
The instructor takes you to a personal computer and starts a program that allows you to look at the avionics on the monitor. You notice that the two screens in the cockpit have divided up navigation and engine instrumentation functions of the aircraft. You learn that the left screen is called a primary flight display (PFD) and contains all of the flight instrument functions that you may have used flying older aircraft, but they have taken a new format on the screen that will seem a bit unfamiliar. The right screen is called a multifunction display (MFD) and contains many new features, including a robust moving map, traffic displays, weather, terrain and obstacle depiction, entertainment, and many other functions.
What surprises you is that all of these features are driven by softkeys and knobs that surround the display bezel; there is no keyboard. Your instructor explains that MFD functions are divided into chapters and pages like a book. In order to navigate and use these features, you have to do combinations of bumps, scrolls, and twists of a control knob, and perhaps even press some of the softkeys along the display bezel to access other functions. Some of the functions can be accessed using either screen's controls, while others are unique to the PFD or MFD.
You now start to understand why your instructor insisted that you sit down for some bookwork before jumping into the airplane. Your instructor recommends that you purchase a computer-based training program or DVD that will more thoroughly explain the operation of the system. A variety of these programs are offered through Aviation Supplies and Academics, King Schools, Sporty's Pilot Shop, and others. They are probably already in your airport pilot shop.
Visible changes
Once you have completed study preparations for operation of the technically advanced aircraft, what will you find that's different when you approach the aircraft? The exterior differences are going to be subtle. Standing next to the aircraft, they will be hard to notice, but with a checklist in your hand, you will notice that there are many different antennas to check, and there is a temperature probe to examine. You may also discover that static wicks are installed on the rear of the flight control surfaces; if so, they must be inspected. Their job is to ensure that any static electricity is safely escorted to the air behind the aircraft without causing interference to the sensitive digital communication and navigation equipment on board.
Procedural changes
When you move inside the aircraft, there are procedures to check multiple batteries; in many aircraft, radios can be operated on a standby or back-up battery without turning on the avionics master switch. Some aircraft no longer have vacuum pumps installed, and the inclinometer ball is gone from the panel. You also notice that the circuit breaker panels are much more pronounced and appear to be segmented into groups with names like essential bus, primary bus, main bus, and avionics bus. Your flight instructor tells you that it is more important than ever to use your checklist for everything, including preflight. There are just too many things that could be easily overlooked without the checklist.
Once the preflight inspection is complete, you start going through the "Before Engine-Start Checklist," and you notice that the order is different than what you used in the classic aircraft. We call the process of conducting a cockpit procedure a flow. A flow in the technically advanced aircraft can involve doing tasks such as electronic flight planning and radio setups before engine start. That would not have been practical with classic GA aircraft because the avionics master switch had to be Off during engine start to prevent voltage spikes from damaging radios, and any flight planning could have been lost.
In addition, engine instrumentation is now located on the glass panels, so the screens must be on in order to monitor oil pressure and voltage condition during and after startup. With glass-cockpit aircraft, starting the aircraft does not affect the avionics. You might find that the aircraft is started with the alternator side of the master switch in the Off position.
You also may find that there is a stand-by battery load check that must be performed to determine the status of the back-up battery. These are all new steps in the process of flying the technically advanced aircraft and should be a further reminder that checklist usage is a must.
After engine start
Once the engine is started, there are several other steps to follow. The engine instruments may be located on several pages of the MFD and you will find reference on the checklist to the process of setting the electronic fuel analyzer to reflect the correct amount of fuel in the tanks. Many technically advanced aircraft have two separate fuel information systems that the pilot needs to understand. One is fuel quantity measurement that comes from the fuel tank sending units and is reflected on the fuel gauges, and the other is the fuel flow measurement generated by the fuel flow transducer, which generates a graphical range profile on the MFD screen. The former tells the pilot how much fuel is in the tanks, and the latter helps the pilot determine the aircraft range based upon real-time flight conditions; it is accurate only if set correctly at the beginning of the flight. It is important to note that the range information is not connected to the actual fuel in the tanks. It is a powerful tool and can aid the pilot in determining destination fuel requirements.
Another difference in the pretakeoff flows is the operational check of autopilot and electric trim systems. Many pilots have never encountered electric trim or autopilots in 1970s-vintage trainers. Checking the aircraft manual, however, the pilot will find that flying technically advanced aircraft without conducting preflight operational checks is not permitted.
The autopilot and trim systems are typically integrated because the autopilot uses the aircraft trim servos as the primary mechanical interface to the flight controls. Because the autopilot can compete with an unsuspecting pilot for control of the aircraft (by design the pilot must be able to win), it makes sense for the pilot to not only understand exactly how to operate the autopilot and the trim system, but also to completely check its operation prior to liftoff to make sure that it is fully functional.
The checklist will spell out the steps for each system, and the pilot must follow those steps exactly. Autopilot components from several different manufacturers have been adopted as standard equipment in technically advanced aircraft (Bendix/King, S-Tec, and Garmin), and each has different procedures for both preflight checks and in-flight operation. Pilots are urged to go to the Web sites for their respective equipment manufacturers, download the manuals, and read and understand those systems before flight.
Knowledge (of the airplane) is power
Whether you fancy a transition to an Avidyne Entegra system installed on Cirrus, Symphony, Columbia 350, and Piper aircraft--or a Garmin G1000 system installed on Cessna, Diamond, Beech, Columbia 400, and Mooney airplanes--you must take the time to properly train on the systems before jumping into the aircraft. Like the modern equipment itself, training for these new glass cockpits is different, too. Most initial and transition training employs preplanned training scenarios for every lesson. It is widely believed that this scenario-based training will promote a more thorough and safer learning experience for any pilot operating a technically advanced aircraft.
You should now have a better understanding of what it is like to move into one of these glass-cockpit-equipped aircraft. Before you climb in, however, you must have a working knowledge not only of the colorful glass screens in the cockpit, but also of the electrical system and its essential, main, and avionic bus layout in order to properly address an electrical system malfunction.
The easiest way to learn a specific aircraft may be to go to the manufacturer's Web site and download the manuals and the avionics supplements. Study the layout of the panels, switches, avionics, and logical divisions of the circuit breaker panels before the first flight. Your instructor can help you find the best study materials and training software for the glass cockpit system that you are going to fly. Copy the checklists for your aircraft and study them at home.
One thing's for certain. Once you make the transition to technically advanced aircraft, you will never look at the classic trainers on the ramp in the same way again.
Michael G. Gaffney is president of Skyline Aeronautics at Spirit of St. Louis Airport in St. Louis, Missouri. A Master CFI and a Master Ground Instructor, he was named the 2006 Greater St. Louis Flight Instructor of the Year. Gaffney, author of ASA's The Complete G1000 Course, also holds airline transport pilot and airframe and powerplant certificates. He has more than 3,200 flight hours.
Glass Class Online: See accompanying multimedia.
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