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Old October 22nd 06, 09:04 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.student
Mxsmanic
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Default Common instruments on small aircraft

Judah writes:

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Judah writes:

The first plane I trained in was as basic as they get - one radio, one
NAV. It was adequate as a trainer, and even for renting (although I
bought a handheld GPS after I started renting more frequently). But
they sold that flight school and I don't think you can rent those
planes anymore.


I think I'd be worried in a plane like that.


Worried about what, exactly?


A lack of redundancy. Also, to determine your position exactly with
navaids, you either need two of them or some sort of distance
information, e.g., 1 VOR+DME, or 2 VORs.

Yes, I know that you might be flying routinely in VMC and might be
able to just look out the window, but I like to have reliable backup
for my own, highly subjective determinations of where I am.

I tried flying from Phoenix to KSAN not long ago by following the
interstates, but I didn't realize until I saw Palm Springs below that
I was following the wrong interstate. Granted, this was simulation,
and you might say that real life provides a clearer picture on the
ground than simulation, but I think all interstates look very similar,
and I might well make the same mistake in real life (essentially just
one of following I-10 instead of whatever leads to San Diego).

Worried about what, exactly?


Failure of insufficiently tested all-in-one avionics. It's best to
minmize the number of tools or instruments that have
interdependencies.

I have to say, they are nice. I enjoy the club planes very much. Great
planes with a great pricetag.


How do they afford it? Somebody must have paid for all that gear up
front at some point. Who owns the aircraft?

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