PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Twin Star (DA42) - Glass vs Clockwork
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Old 19th Jul 2006, 19:33
  #18 (permalink)  
FlyingForFun

Why do it if it's not fun?
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
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I didn't train on glass, but I have flown glass.

Moving from dials to glass is pretty simple, since the scan you learn on dials will work perfectly well with glass. Moving the other way is, I guess, a little more difficult, because you will develope a scan on glass which needs a little refinement to be used on dials, since the information you need is spread around a little more.

Just about every new aircraft has a glass cockpit, but the sim ride you do when applying for jobs will be on an old sim, possibly for a type which the airline doesn't use any more, so it will almost certainly have dials. I can't help but think that training on glass wouldn't prepare you for this.

Incidentally, the Twinstar also has a single power lever for each engine - no prop lever, mixture, carb heat, etc (not sure about cowl flaps, though), so it doesn't really prepare you for flying any conventional twin piston at all. Less relevant for moving onto jets, though, since jets also don't have prop controls or carb heats.....

If I was buying a twin, I would look very closely at the Twinstar. But not for training.

Small disclaimer - I work for an IR school which uses aircraft with dials, but I don't think this affects my views on this subject, which I held before I started teaching IR.

FFF
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