Why With A G1000?
2/5/2011 — The Argument for Modern Training Aircraft
Modern aircraft are essential to learning to fly in today’s rapidly evolving aviation environment. With the onset of the implementation of precision Global Positional System (GPS - see note 1 below ) approaches and the soaring popularity of Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA - see note 2 below) students must learn flight skills from a modern platform so that they can safely integrate into the modern flight environment. With modern aircraft in the fleet, Gulf Coast Aviation is able to expose students to VOR/DME and GPS approaches, in addition to providing the situational awareness that the G1000 offers (see note 3 below) offers.
Why GPS and autopilot? There was a common belief among flight instructors and pilot examiners in the not to distant past that these should not be taught to students and not be allowed to be used on practical tests. Fortunately this belief is beginning to give way to the wisdom that these modern instruments are not ways for a pilot to “cheat” but instead tools which can help the pilot conduct a flight safer than he ever could have without them. While all instructors will take caution not to allow the student to be dependant on these modern tools, they will present them in a positive way and encourage a complete understanding of the aircraft’s abilities. A GPS, especially integrated into a glass cockpit offers salient improvements in pilot situational awareness which mean increased pilot safety. In addition an autopilot can offer a workload reduction to a pilot to reduce his level of fatigue. While the autopilot should not be used as a replacement for keeping flying skills current, it can increase safety during Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) or night flying when pilot workloads can be high.
(Note 1)
GPS is a navigational system that calculates position from 24 satellites orbiting the earth. This system increases the pilot’s awareness of where the aircraft is in the sky and therefore increases safety. Airports that in the past were not accessible in cloudy weather because of lack of adequate facilities are now GPS accessible.
(Note 2)
According to AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation TAA are defined as aircraft that “are equipped with new generation avionics that take full advantage of computing power and modern navigational aids to improve pilot positional awareness, system redundancy, and depending upon equipment, improve in-cockpit information about traffic weather and terrain. By FAA pronouncement, a TAA is equipped with at least:
• a moving map display
• an IFR approved GPS navigator
• an autopilot”
For more information on TAA see “Technically Advance Aircraft, Safety and Training” available at www.aopa.org
(Note 3)
The G1000TM is a completely integrated avionics system designed to fit a broad range of aircraft models. It’s an all-glass flightdeck that presents flight instrumentation, location, navigation, communication, and identification data on large-format, high resolution displays. The digital data presentation on the G1000 puts all flight-critical information literally at the pilot’s fingertips. Visit Garmin's G1000 Website
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