L.Adamson said:
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And then for "someone" to compare these SAFETY features to a "video game", and "don't fly over my house" while using one, while inferring that ADF practice will make you a better pilot, while using a GPS will make you a "dumber" one----------------just completely pisses me off!
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As to some that say, the pilot is sticking his/her head into the cockpit too often to look at the glass versus looking out the window, well, it's "true" in a few cases where the pilot really doesn't know how to operate the electronics, and should learn beforehand. But in reality, there is "more" time to look out the window, thanks to not having charts constantly spread across your lap while performing navigation cross-checks to make sure where you really are.
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The fact that it "pisses you off" makes it no less true
But seriously, I think it's time to let this one die. We seem to be talking right past each other. I will grant you- for IFR flying, intentional or otherwise, in the mountains, I'd trade my ADF for a 396 in half a heartbeat. And for the other 99.999% of flying, a GPS moving map certainly is nice to have. So nice, in fact that I put one in my panel. (Garmin 196)
And I will grant you that there are some grizzled old CFIs who pooh-pooh such new technology and don't teach it (mostly out of fear and ignorance) and this is bad.
However, you must grant me that there are at least as many CFIs who gloss over the basics of VFR and IFR navaigation, figuring you don't need to learn that old stuff, in favor of using all GPS, all the time. These bad instructors are found at both ends of the spectrum, and both are doing their students a diservice.
However, I will not back down one inch from my point about being head down in the cockpit. Everyone who thinks that having a panel of goodies "frees up" your time to look out the window, raise your hands. When I flew a '46 Champ with 6 gauges, 4 of which didn't work, there was plenty of time to look out the window (to watch cars on the freeway pass you.) When I equiped it with a portable GPS (295) my looking out time decreased by a ton. I certainly don't put myself above this, and I work hard to keep my head outside.
I do, and we all should, periodically go out and practice stalls, steep turns, lazy -8s, etc. to maintain a level of proficiency. Another good excercise- plan a flight to an airport a couple hundred miles away, and fly there with the GPS off. If this intimidates you, that ought to tell you something.
Jeff Point
PS Yes I was an instructor in the early 90s, but no longer actively instruct.
PPS Can we go back to arguing nose v. tailwheel now? FWIW, I find that the tailwheel spring is a handy place to mount the ADF sense antenna