"Snowbird" wrote in
ti.fi:


"Mxsmanic" wrote ...
Snowbird writes:

.....However, compared to mechanical gauges it's no contest.

Until the computer fails, that is.

Mechanics are not failure-free either. In fact, during my brief
aviator career I've already experienced two (2) creeping altimeters
and one (1) stuck VSI. The worst, however, was an airspeed indicator
that did not move until the airplane was up to 35 knots. Makes for
interesting decision situations during take-off. I still don't know if
the fault was in the instrument or if there was water or a bug in the
pitot line.






Bit different from watching your screens disappear completely. Also the
computers often tie in several instruments together. for instance, theres
only one gyro on larger aircraft for the attitude and heading. For the
pressure instruments, all th estuff comes off the Air Data Computer.


Thus, a single failure results in the loss fo several instruments at once.


Bertie