Originally Posted by
Gertrude the Wombat
like the one I had at school
Use of slide rules haven't been taught in schools for something like 30 years (at least - certainly before my time!). The whole concept was alien to me when I started flying training, although now I get the concept I can do speed/distance/time calculations much more quickly on the slide rule than I can electronically.
On the wind side, the inaccuracy is annoying to me although considerably quicker than doing the maths (and certainly more accurate than I can fly and winds predictions!).
I understand that slide rules aren't in theory compulsory but since you aren't allowed to take a programmable calculator into JAR exams, it would be pretty much impossible to complete some of the papers without one.