G1000 glass panel in the Piper Mirage. Photo Courtesy of Piper Aircraft.
by Michael Kaufman, CFII
Volk Field Safety Seminar
Michael Kaufman
“Is There Glass In Your Future” was the topic I presented August 21, 2010, at the Volk Field Air National Guard Base open house in the central Wisconsin community of Camp Douglas. Every two years, the military opens up Volk Field to civilians to fly in. The event covers aviation seminars for both VFR and IFR pilots as well as a combined civilian and military air show. This year, the weather was less than ideal, limiting the number of fly-ins and forcing the air show to be modified due to low ceilings, which persisted throughout the day.
I have been presenting seminars at the Volk Field open house over the past 15 years and decided to present a slightly different topic this year. The program was cosponsored by the Wisconsin Bureau of Aeronautics and the FAA Safety Team consisting of Jeff Taylor from the bureau, and Bill Law from the Federal Aviation Administration. Those attending the seminar received WINGS credit.
My Glass Panel Experience
My presentation dealt with the glass panels that are becoming very popular in all new production aircraft and as retrofits in many older aircraft. Many pilots have different views on glass panels, and I did a lot of research in preparing my presentation, some of which actually surprised me!
I have been flying for over 45 years and have seen a lot of changes in the instrumentation of aircraft: the tail end of the A&N Range, Narco “Superhomers,” and loop antennas. I am still amazed at the technological advances in aircraft, especially the electronics.
My first experience with glass panels came with a demo ride I had in a Cirrus aircraft using the Avidyne panel. A friend of mine who did a similar demo a few weeks earlier told me that he used the conventional (steam gauges) exclusively, which are backups for the Avidyne glass panel, as he could not readily adapt to glass. When I did my ride, I found glass very easy to adapt to and never glanced at the steam gauges during the flight.
Unlike many pilots and especially flight instructors, I was eager to transition to glass and decided to go to Duluth, Minnesota and become a Cirrus certified flight instructor. Since then I had the opportunity to deliver several new Cirrus aircraft from the factory to their new owners.
Safety Issues With Glass Panels
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a study they did on March 9, 2010 on aircraft accidents titled SB 10-07, and we found, much to our surprise, that there were substantially more fatal accidents in glass-equipped aircraft than with conventional gauges; more on that later.
It has been stated in another study that scanning and interpreting an analog gauge is easier than with a digital gauge. Citing some interesting facts, do you remember when the digital revolution put digital speedometers in cars? It appears that we have now reverted back to analog gauges. Racecar drivers rotate some of their analog gauges so when everything is good, all of the gauges point up. After some discussion at the seminar, I had to agree that in an instrument scan, an analog altimeter and airspeed gauge are easier to read and interpret. Going back to the NTSB study, it was further pointed out that quality pilot training in glass panel equipped aircraft could considerably reverse the fatal accident statistics in these aircraft.
Glass Panel Costs
Another item to consider if you are contemplating an upgrade of your present aircraft to glass is cost. If you like your aircraft and plan on keeping it for some time, it is easier to justify the cost. Like any avionics upgrade for every A.M.U. (aviation monetary unit, “$1,000”) you spend, you increase the value of the aircraft by about half. Let’s say, however, that an HSI or flight director gyro needed an overhaul. The cost of that overhaul would equal about half of an entry-level glass panel, and that overhaul would add nothing to the value of the aircraft. So go for the glass panel!
From my own personal experience, failures of glass panels seem to be the same as those of steam gauges. Repairs of glass panels seem to be considerably more expensive because more serious repairs need to be done at the factory with few choices of aftermarket repair stations.
Testing That New Glass Panel
When you add new equipment to your aircraft – glass panel or other – there are many interface problems that need to be dealt with at your avionics shop. How does the avionics technician make all of your old equipment integrate with the new equipment?
In many cases, there are issues that need to be corrected after an installation. My recommendation is to get a pilot or instructor familiar with all of your equipment to test fly your aircraft when it comes out of the shop. I have flown installations, which were done in years prior, that never worked properly, and the pilot/owner did not know how it should work from the start. So a new installation is one thing… Training in the use of the new equipment is another.
Glass Panel Features
There are a lot of differences in the features of the different glass panels. One of my favorite features separating the entry-level display from the top-level display is “synthetic vision.” This is an expensive option even on the top-level displays. It is like having x-ray vision looking through the clouds and fog and seeing the runway on a low IFR approach. A box appears, and the pilot only needs to aim it at the runway end. As the runway gets closer, the runway numbers appear and get larger.
I found it strange the first time I taxied onto the runway with synthetic vision to see the runway-like picture on the screen that so closely represented what I saw through the windscreen.
I feel synthetic vision is an enhanced safety feature and well worth that extra dollar. The leading airfreight company, FedEx, must feel the same as they are equipping their entire fleet of Cessna Caravans with Garmin G-600 synthetic vision, glass-panel displays.
Will SOLAR MAX
Affect Our Modern Technological Aircraft?
At the end of 2012 and early in 2013, the 11-year solar cycle will peak. This could mean damaged satellites and disrupted radio communications worldwide. A team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is quoted as saying, “The next sun spot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one.” If correct, a burst of solar activity, second only to the historic SOLAR MAX of 1958, could be produced in the years ahead.
According to the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), the intensity of the geomagnetic storms during Solar Cycle 24 may be elevated by a large breach in the Earth’s magnetic field, which was discovered by the THERMIS spacecraft in 2008. A 20-fold increase in particle counts that penetrate the Earth’s magnetic field may be expected.
I have personally seen an increase in solar activity with the northern lights visible in northern Wisconsin on August 4th and 5th, 2010, and in the disruption of the Packers football game feed several weeks ago. We as pilots need to remember how to use alternate means of navigation in the event of a failure in the GPS navigation system.
May you always have a tailwind!
