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Old 21st Jun 2014, 14:10
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ChickenHouse
 
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Would it change your mind if the glass cockpit plane was cheaper? Others have said learn on whatever is cheapest etc.


Definitely No. One major reason for glass cockpits is indeed - they are cheaper to built, cheaper to maintain, thus maximizing profit of the maintenance organization. The argued advantage is at first a marketing one, as it won't make you a better pilot. Flying experience will, so there might be some threshold, where it makes sense to eat up a possible price advantage by more hours. As somebody mentioned before - if you scan classic instruments, you don't really read them, but get the feedback almost intuitively, so you, the instruments and the plane get a guts feeling.

I met quite some younger pilots, who never had anything else then a glass cockpit and many of them fly by brain, not by butt&feel. As long as they are in an airliner-style environment it might be ok, but it is definitely not my way. On check flights I always switch off these computergame gadgets in front and let them fly VFR on partial - difference of performance between old-fashioned and computerized pilots is extreme!
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