Interviewing the surviving pilot after a stall/spin crash in a glider
equipped with "modern" instruments:

"What happened? Didn't you notice the quiet? The slack controls? The nose
dropping? Slicing?"

"Well, no... There was this annoying, distracting, loud buzzing going on
and I was trying to figure out what it meant when the lights went out."

Maybe we also need an interlock system which prevents opening the release
with weight on the wheel and spoilers or canopy unlocked... Then you
couldn't hook up until properly configured. For motorgliders, the engine
won't start until the configuration is correct for takeoff.


"kirk.stant" wrote in message
...
On Sep 5, 7:54 pm, Mike Schumann
wrote:
I am not against all "gadgets". I just think that we need to
prioritize, given the limited amount of panel space, and equally
importantly, the limited ability of people to learn how to use all the
stuff they are putting into their cockpits.

I agree with respect to a lot of the fancy PNA programs - they have
the potential to display so much useless info!

However, we were discussing stick shakers/stall warning systems
specifically - which are pretty bone-simple - even a caveman can
understand how they work!

At the top of my list would be collision avoidance gear (PowerFlarm /
ADS-B / transponder type stuff). This will potentially save a properly
trained pilot. My personal feeling is that you really aren't trained
properly if you can't sense and feel a stall coming on and don't
instinctively know what to do about it. Adding another instrument to
tell you what you should already know, just adds another item to your
scan, which distracts you from more important stuff, like looking for
traffic.

Apparently the FAA, NASA, Air Force, Boeing, Airbus, and airlines do
not share you opinion...

Modern gliders give very little indications of a stall (another reason
why training in old clunkers like the 2-33 is counterproductive). Add
a little distraction or a higher priority task (Bee in the cockpit!)
and you can be in a high-AOA situation without being aware of it. Add
to that a pilot who flies infrequently, and the benefit of a stall
warning system becomes even more clear.

Kirk
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