Recently, B25flyer posted:
(mostly snipped for brevity)
Over a period of time aviation seems to make changes due to technical
advances. As such in the past certain "basics" of aviation that were
once written in stone have gone by the wayside.

[...]

Got me to thinking. So question is, what is the opinion of the troops
as to when the system will change and as part of the written/PTS for
any rating there will no longer be the requirment to draw the line
and figure out all the other stuff for the X-C portion of the test.
Just put in airports/waypoints and go for it.

IMO, this misses the point entirely. There are several important lessons
imbedded in the apparently simple task of X-C planning.

-- The basic idea of planning. Every aspect of the flight has to be taken
into consideration. For the instructor, I'd imagine that it would provide
some good insights into how the student is approaching aviation. Those
that would forego planning and rely on short-cuts can probably benefit
from *more* instruction, not less.

-- Tracking your progress on a chart is still a good practice. The
simplified GPS view is not all you need to know during an X-C. Even if the
GPS has terrain info, it's unlikely to include all of the details on a VFR
chart.

-- Bottom-line safety. Why teach "engine out" routines, when the
likelihood of an engine failure is fairly remote (I'd argue that an
electrical failure that would take out the GPS is more likely)?

I think that it's for good reason that the GPS is considered an addendum,
and not a replacement for other nav aids. There may be some point in the
future when this has changed, but it isn't here yet.

Regards,

Neil