Paul_Sengupta wrote:Highland Park wrote:That was something that used to concern Gerry Honey. He was all for technological advances, but did worry that it would encourage pilots to fly in conditions that they might not otherwise have done and were pushing their abilities to the limit unnecessarily...
I'm not sure I understand this way of thinking. A moving map navigation system gives you the ability and confidence to fly in all sorts of situations where you may not otherwise do so, not least of which is flying anywhere near any controlled airspace. It allows you to find aerodromes such as Fenland or Bourne Park, it allows you to confidently fly up the Manchester LLR, and all sorts of other places which you might think twice about if you didn't have the GPS.
Indeed.
And what happens if the GPS signal drops out or gets jammed right when you're threading a needle between two bits of CAS in rubbish vis?
A PAN call might be the only option if you don't have a plan B, and as we're constantly exhorted to take 2, that might not be an easy option visually if you'd been relying on the accuracy of the moving map before it died.
So far I've never lost the GPS signal yet. But in 3.5 years of SkyDemon, I've noticed over time how my map reading skills have deteriorated.
Until I started using SD, my map reading was pretty damn good. I hadn't done a PLOG or calculated a heading for about 25 years, with the sole exceptions of a trip to Macon and IMC written tests.
In fact, I still have my original set of track marker pens, all still working, purchased in 1992!
My flight planning consisted of checking NOTAMS, weather, fuel, and writing down the frequencies I'd need. And then I'd take off and point the aircraft in the right general direction, and read the map all the way. I could see the drift, even from quite high up. If I needed an estimate, it would be based on thumb joints.
Now however, although I still cross-check with the ground a lot, I wouldn't be as confident. I reckon I'd still be ok, just about, but I do genuinely fear for the current generation who have grown up with SkyDemon, and despite having to pass a test flying stopwatch and compass, never *really* learned to map read.