I think one of the problems with Glass cockpits is the ability for manufacturers to add too many surplus 'attractions' to sell more units, the old planned obsolescence ploy.
The only requirement is to move a piece of machinery safely from A to B, all the rest is to help avoid hitting another piece of machinery ( or the ground ! ) on the way, all the old aircraft managed that perfectly well, by and large. All the add-ons that were invented like Altitude Alert, TACAS etc. came about as the volume of traffic increased and the ATC environment became more complicated, and is a very valid reason - within limits - but the Glass Cockpit Industry is progressing like the mobile telephone industry, the examples of which now do just about everything except make a simple voice contact between two parties, and are complicated to use as a consequence - at least to me !!
I differ in this opinion only with regard to INS, ( now superceded by GPS )the coming of which,in my opinion, was the greatest advance in aviation in our present lifetime.
I have a friend who was an Electronics Engineer in the aviation inustry, and who now owns his own aeroplane, he has fitted it with a Glass cockpit, including auto-pilot and virtually a full FMS system and I believe he is working on an auto-land facility - but it is a Microlight ( LSA ) ! Microlights are forbidden to fly at night, or in IFR, so this is just for fun, and has no place in the general Microlight World of course.
The points mentioned about G.A./ Recreational pilots not being current on the various displays available, and therefore more at risk, is very valid, I've just been type rated on a new, to me, microlight type that is fitted with a digital RPM readout - I hate it, can't see it easily, can't see a 'trend' out of the corner of my eye as the large needle ( not ) moves. Bit like a digital watch, one looks at the 'picture' to tell the time, and the traditional " T " layout was familiar on all aircraft.
Still, I must confess that youngsters who have a couple of years experience of Flight Simulator who now come along to learn to fly, are a breed apart, I might not send them solo, but I might give them an Instrument Rating on their first lesson! - but Airmanship ? that still has to be gained, and that is the same be it glass or steam.
( I get my own back when we start stalling exercises - when you stall a computer game you don't fall off your chair ! )
back to my cave