"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
.. .
Phil wrote in news:1191696116.820241.83540@
19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com:

On Oct 6, 10:21 am, Arno wrote:
Hello,

I am computer scientist and usually really like fancy technology. But
I just had my first flight with a "glass" PFD (Avidyne) and must say
I
am not impressed. In particular reading altitude and airpeed from
these scrolling bands requires a lot more attention than with regular
gauges, just like reading a digital clock takes longer than reading
an
analog one. Glancing at it and checking against a known picture, like
"speed at 3 o'clock is fine on final" or "altitude at 20 minutes past
midnight is minimum", just does not work anymore, instead I end up
reading the actual numbers every time I look. Does anyone feel the
same? Am I missing a particular technique?

Arno

I am a fellow computer geek, and a student pilot. I usually fly a
plane with steam gauges, but a couple of times now I have flown with
digital displays. Like you, I found it a little hard to adjust to the
digital displays. The digital displays I was using presented altitude
and tachometer values simply as numbers. The analog displays I am
used to present these values as positions on a dial, showing the
current value in its context of a spectrum of values. With the analog
displays, I am used to adjusting the position of the pointer. With
the digital display, I need to simply set the correct numerical
value. It's a little mental adjustment, and given that I am a newbie
to all this it is an extra distraction.

But, I do think that it is mostly a matter of what you are used to.



Flying is a right hand brain activity. At least the handling portion is.
The right hand side of the brain dosn't do abstractions like numbers, at
least not until the left hand side (which can't fly worth a ****) sends
it over to the right side in a readily digestable form which enables the
right brain to chew it into a picture.

An analogue display cuts the left hand side out of the loop and enables
the calcualtion rate to increase the right sides "frame rate" so that
corrections can be made more frequently thus enabling the pilot to fly
the airplane more smooothly and with more authority.
Caorse rule of thumb math can be laid over this for descent angles,
interceptin angles and wo on, but generally, the fewer numbers involved,
the better.
People who prefer the numbers usualy don't fly very well at all.


You don't do trig while you're shooting pool and expect to win the game.


Bertie

Very well said!

Peter