Michael wrote:
I always thought it was worthwhile to show an instrument student a
disassembled compass. Once he sees how the counterweight works to
compensate for the vertical component of the magnetic field, turning
errors are obvious

Seeing stuff opened up is always useful. My FBO has a sectioned
carburator sitting around in one of the classrooms; I take every
opportunity to show people how it works inside. Some of them actually
pay attention :-)

I also like to pull the cowling off planes and show students what's
underneath. Many have never seen anything more than can be seen from
the oil filler door. It's very instructive when you see things like
the alternate air control opening up a little door on the air filter
housing, or tracing out the wires from the plugs to the magnetos.

Well, it can be done - but WHY? There is some value in knowing that
the radio determines whether to use the VOR or LOC circuitry based on
the frequency selected. There is much value to understanding the
difference, especially as it applies to the validity of a VOR check for
LOC/ILS ops. Memorizing what the actual frequencies are seems rather
pointless.

I agree that knowing which are VOR and which are LOC is not terribly
practical for most pilots, but knowing which are NAV and which are COM
is. I've seen more than one pilot keep spinning the knobs on the COM
radio trying to to figure out why they can't find 116.6 to get the
ATIS.