Nav, Com and Efcs

AVSC-3300- NAV,COM and EFCS

11/09/2014

“NAV, COM and EFCS”

There are both advantages and disadvantages to advanced cockpit instrumentation. Right off the bat, one of the major disadvantages of more technological advancement is that it usually means the pilot will not need to be as skilled and proficient with the actual flying of the plane. Of course, on the other hand, the positive aspect of this is that it makes things much easier for the pilot and saves effort of doing a lot of arguably unnecessary work. Though when things do become more mechanized in the cockpit, and the avionics do much of the pilots work, it also takes away much needed skills to have in case the pilot becomes too dependent on any given equipment and should stop working for whatever reason.

One of the advantages here is that it certainly makes for more accurate flying, and saves time and money required to make the flight in the first place. It is all around convenient when avionic efficiency cuts through steps to make life easier for the pilot. The more ancient ADF's, for example, were a pretty simple and crude device and easy to know and learn. Though they notoriously inaccurate and not the best way of navigating. When the VOR's came by to replace them, they made things that much better for the overall flying experience. Though as I mentioned earlier, the more widespread use of GPS now may cause pilots to lose valuable tracking skills.

I recall a time when I was doing some time building flights down the east coast and got caught up in a rather busy traffic pattern. I was able to monitor the GPS and VORs to maneuver around and track my position, but things were made much easier by the glass cockpit giving me a bird's eye perspective of the overall situation. It let me know of everything around me like traffic and terrain and such. Though I do wonder if I didn't have that help, would I have been alright in that situation to continue without any confusion. It's possible that it may have...