Not a thing, Pilot16. Especially compared to the myriad other 'head down' tasks and considering a whiz wheel can be held up in front of you.
1. Hold up whiz wheel.
2. Look past the WW to see outside/scan instruments
3. Align numbers
4. Look outside/scan instruments
5. Check alignment, rotate scale if nec.
6. Look outside etc etc
7. Read TE/CA above the
60'
8. Look outside....
Need I continue? It's NOT that much of a drama! It takes a few seconds for most tasks. Often less time than copying a clearance. With practice a 1:60 doesn't have to take as many steps as I've belaboured the point above. Using a whiz wheel for typical inflight jobs is less absorbing than playing silly ******s with a GPS. Christ, even setting up a KNS80/81 RNAV can take more attention than using a whiz wheel.
FFF, you don't always have the opportunity to peruse approach plates or mark up a chart beforehand. I've lost track of how many times I've diverted to somewhere unplanned: Customer requirements, weather, company requirements, aircraft problems etc etc. Similarly, just how many of all of the available approaches do you memorise at your destination & alternate? What do you do if your chosen one isn't available? What if you're doing a multi-sector flight? How many do you try to remember? You have no choice but to be able to brief in the air. The skill is no different.
What about emergency checklists eg an electrical problem? Typically after doing the various memory items then checklist should be used to ensure all items were completed or done correctly. Some of them can get quite involved once the troubleshooting starts.
Plotting tasks: A major diversion, across featurless terrain requires a reasonable accurate track, especially once track corrections are required (they WILL be required...). That straight line is the base line from which your subsequent measurements are compared. Using a scale rule to draw it in makes things a sh!itload easier. And after the initial track assesment (if an immediate diversion is necessary) using protractor all makes things a sh!tload easier. Similarly, using cross bearings is an important part of navigating. How do you plot them? Like nearly all things aviation the tools have to be used 'correctly' ie without becoming so absorbed in the task that other tasks are ignored. Using the EGT to lean is a good example. People
tend to want to stare at the EGT while leaning - unless they're taught to do the job differently. Using a whiz wheel, ruler, protractor or any other tool is no different.
FF, no it wasn't. I remember to look outside while doing other things. Perhaps they were looking at their map/GPS/Playboy Magazine?
