In rec.aviation.student Mxsmanic wrote:
I'm amazed at all the complications of piston engines on small aircraft. Big
jets used to have a flight engineer with a whole panel of controls and
instruments, but they managed to eliminate that with various forms of
automatic and engine design changes. And yet the same has not happened on
small aircraft: you practically have to be a mechanic to be a pilot, at least
in small piston aircraft. It seems like a hazardous distraction--a pilot
should be able to dedicate himself to flying, not to tweaking an engine.

This is the kind of amusing idealism that is common from someone not very
well versed in the real world.

I used to feel the same way, but reality simply is not cooperative in this
respect. Technology can compensate to some degree. You no longer need to
know very much about cars at all to own one (for which I am eternally
grateful). But you still need to know some things. The car can't protect
you against everything. You still have to think about when to get your oil
changed (even if the computer reminds you), you still have to know that
shifting into reverse while on the highway is not a good move, etc.

It's very rare for a person to be able to do anything meaningful as a 100%
pure experience. He always needs to be versatile and know many different
things to really perform well. A good pilot will incorporate these
"extraneous" things (even though they really aren't extraneous) into their
routine until they become automatic. They pose little or no distraction
from other tasks in this way.

If you think engine management is distracting, you should see what *I*
have to go through to stay aloft. All sorts of thinking going on there.
And yet I and every other glider pilot manages to fly the plane too.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon